Assynt Peace Group Members Arrested At Faslane

Five people from Assynt, in northwest Sutherland were arrested on Monday for blockading the North Gate of the Faslane Military Base protesting against the replacement of Trident nuclear weapons. The arrests happened after a fun afternoon of Faslane Highland Games, which was organised by the Assynt Peace Group. The Games included all the traditional competitions, such as Toss the Caber, Putt the Haggis and an Egg and Spoon Race plus some special events to celebrate Faslane 365, including Welly over Faslane. The Games concluded with a magnificent Tug o’ Peace, which blocked the gate to the military base.

Helen Steven, one of those arrested and founding member of the Assynt Peace Group said ‘We went to the gates of the Faslane military base to toss the caber, putt a haggis, run races and have a tug of peace, all to show in a spirit of good humour that we want this country to be involved in games of peace, not war games, and to confirm all of the good things in life, rather than the mentality of death.’

Angus McEwan, long-time secretary of the Assynt Games filled the traditional role of Chieftain. He said, ‘The two words 'nuclear weapons' seem innocuous as they roll off the tongue, but if you were to taste what is really in there, it's poison. They are unimaginable weapons. We have to make a start of getting rid of them, to try to loosen the traditional positions we have been tied in for so long, to change this threatening posture to other nations. I feel I have to try to keep the pressure up, even if at times this means being unconformist.’

The peace group wrote to the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band inviting them to send pipers to the games, but they apologised for being unable to take part, as it was their rest day.

Bill Ritchie, one of the event organisers said, ‘We are proud to have brought a taste of the Highlands to the Faslane 365 protest and to have demonstrated in a spirit of peace and good fun against Trident. We represent the many people who are opposed to these weapons of mass
destruction which are held, in breach of international law, at Faslane.’

Those arrested were Angus John McEwan from Inverkirkaig, Catriona MacDonald from Stoer, Marianne Hutchison and Duncan Hutchison from Lochinver and Helen Steven from Raffin. All 5 were released without charge after being held at Clydebank Police Station over night.

A blight on the day was the theft of a laptop computer, documents, notebooks and cash from a car in the Cemetary car park, the boot of which was inadvertently left unlocked between about 1 and 2pm. If anyone finds brown envelopes with papers in them or notebooks, of no interest to thieves but very precious to their author, please do get in touch.

The Assynt Peace Group has a history of constructive dialogue for peace. The Lochinver Declaration for Peace was launched by Bruce Kent and signed up to by more than 100 people on Valentine’s Day 2004, and two members of the group, Ellen Moxley and Helen Steven, are past winners of the Ghandi International Peace Prize and of the Right Livelihood Award, usually known as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.