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Press Releases & Updates 1998
18th August 1998
Trident Ploughshares Disarmament Activists Reach Nuclear Submarine in Faslane Naval Base
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For Mother Earth Activists’ Spectacular Coup
At 1.15 this morning 3 peace activists reached the submarines at the heart of the British nuclear weapons system. Three TP2000 divers from the international organisation For Mother Earth, clad in wet suits and carrying disarmament tools, breached the outer circle of security at the Faslane Naval Base and reached Berth 12, causing panic among the security forces according to an independent source monitoring the naval base.
Said a camper at the permanent Peace Camp at Faslane: "It was like a pin-ball machine! All the lights went on and the alarms went off. All hell broke loose."
The successful intrusion is the latest in a series of direct non-violent disarmament actions by activists based at the TP2000 camp at Coulport. Overnight 14 disarmers were arrested, bringing the total to date to 81 since August 11th.
97 people have signed the TP2000 pledge to peacefully and accountably disarm the UK nuclear weapons system, which is illegal under international law, referring to the historic ruling of the International Court of Justice in La Hague.
It is still a mystery how the three disarmers were successful in reaching the submarine inside the Faslane Naval Base as the base has been on alert since the arrival of the Trident Ploughshares 2000 campaigners. Katri Silvonen from Finland (21) and Krista van Velzen from the Netherlands (23), both working full-time as volunteers at the international office of For Mother Earth in Gent (Belgium), and Rick Springer, an author and disarmament campaigner from the USA (47), have been arrested by MOD security around Berth #12 where the submarine was probably stationed. They made a common statement reading : "If you attempt to disarm an illegal nuclear submarine, you may be considered as threat to safety. If you threaten to incinerate millions of people, and the very existence of our planet, it is called national security". The activists stated clearly that they are here to stop the planning of crimes against humanity.
Sergeant Miller of the MOD security refused to give more details about the arrests. Along with this sea-borne team. For Mother Earth had also two land teams with a total of seven non-violent disarmers. Their sea-borne team had one Dutch activist, one from the USA and one from Finland. The land based teams had one Dutch, two UK, one Finnish and one Belgian.
Background Information for Journalists
Britain’s Nuclear Weapons System
The UK nuclear weapons system is based on Trident missiles bought from the USA and ready to be fired from three submarines (four from September) based at Faslane Naval Base on the Gareloch near Glasgow and stored and loaded onto the subs at Coulport on Loch Long a few miles further west. The Trident system, in which each warhead has eight times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, is a massive escalation in Britain’s nuclear capacity and has been outlawed under international law.
International Law
In July 1996 the International Court of Justice gave its Advisory Opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons, stating that "methods and means of warfare which would preclude any distinction between civilians and military targets, or which would result in unnecessary suffering to combatants, are prohibited. In view of the unique characteristics of nuclear weapons, ... the use of such weapons is scarcely reconcilable with such requirements" (ICJ July 1996)
Trident Ploughshares 2000 (TP2000)
The Ploughshares movement is a confrontational but non-violent resistance to the arms race and nuclear weapons. Over the years its members have been involved in many disarmament actions, including the disabling of a Hawk aircraft bound for East Timor, for which four women were acquitted. TP2000 was launched in May this year and 97 activists have signed its pledge to prevent nuclear war crime in a non-violent manner. The organisation and individual activists see themselves as fully and openly accountable for their actions. The disarmers
will continue their peaceful disarmament attempt until 1 January 2000 or until the government commits itself to the immediate disarmament of the Trident system.
TP2000 is an international movement and activists from more than a dozen countries are present at the Coulport disarmament camp for an intensive 15 day period of action.
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