Dundee action 13/01/07

We left Dundee at 4am - one coach and a car - and set off to Faslane. A more diverse bunch you couldn't imagine, including MSPs, councillors, students, veteran protestors, financiers, NHS staff, Trades Unions officials, and academics. For some it was their first ever demonstration let alone trip to Faslane.

Going one better than Tony Blair, we managed to find some weapons of mass destruction, arriving as we did just after 7am. The coach was unloaded and we marched 1/2 mile down the road and up to the North Gate. The banners and flags representing various groups from Dundee and the surrounding area were erected and 5 hours of peaceful, non-violent protest began.

Two groups sat on the road and blocked the North Gate just as the morning shift workers arrived. They successfully stopped traffic entering and leaving the base for an hour. Queues of traffic were brought to a standstill on all the roads leading to the roundabout in front of the North Gate. After an hour, we heard the announcement over the tannoy that the North Gate was now closed, and that all traffic should now use the South Gate.

The police then began to erect screens around the blockaders, and in light of the traffic all being directed away from the site of our blockade, the hardy souls who had braved the cold, wet ground got up and went back behind the barriers. The North Gate re-opened half an hour later.

Soon after this, the blockaders again sat down on the road in front of the North Gate, preventing traffic from accessing the base. After the final warning from the police, one blockader steadfastly refused to move and proceeded to lie down in front of the gate. He was eventually arrested and was taken to the processing centre, where he was handcuffed and then taken to Dunbarton Police Station. He was held for 4 hours then released without charge.

The demonstration ended at noon, and we headed back up north to Dundee - cold and wet but ultimately empowered and satisified that we had done our bit to highlight the illegality and immorality of Trident.