Protesters blockade nuclear base

On the 7th of January students from Oxford, Sussex and Edinburgh universities joined academics from around the world in blockading Faslane nuclear base forcing operations at its main gate to a halt. The action formed part of a year-long protest, Faslane 365, in which civil society groups will daily attempt to block access to the base. Lasting over 6 hours this was the longest continuous blockade of the base since the start of the protest in October.

The protest challenged, both intellectually and physically, the Government's plan to force through its white paper proposing the renewal of Britain's nuclear weapons system, which will cost the public at least £25 billion.

Participants in an outdoor seminar titled 'Academia vs. Weapons of Mass Destruction' included Sir Richard Jolly, former Assistant Secretary General of the UN. On the prearranged signal to 'take a tea break the protesters filled the entrance to the base. The students proceeded to lock themselves together with chains, padlocks, and drainpipes, amongst groups of academics, completely blocking the road and forcing the gate to close.

The police made no immediate move to stop the blockade, and, completely outnumbered, had to let the seminar continue on the road - apparently not expecting it to withstand the poor weather conditions. However, despite the rain and the cold, spirits were high with songs, chanting, and an impromptu performance of Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'.

After several hours, the police issued formal warnings to the blockaders on the road. When no-one left they moved in to make arrests. In total, seventeen academics and sixteen students were arrested for breach of the peace. After being cut out of their chains some of the students were given the further charge of resisting arrest. Jo Tyabji, a student at Oxford, commented "I think it's absurd that I'm being arrested for 'breach of the peace' for protesting against our possession of illegal nuclear weapons".

All the arrestees were held overnight and were released the following morning. The students are inviting all students to return to Faslane in the summer as part of a larger national student blockade of the base.
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Notes:

1. The student protest forms part of Faslane 365, a civil resistance initiative to apply critical public pressure for the disarmament of Britain's nuclear weapons. Groups from around the country are blockading the Faslane nuclear weapons base from 1st October 2006 until 30th September 2007. For more information, see: http://www.faslane365.org/
2. The current Trident weapons system consists of four nuclear-armed submarines, each carrying 48 warheads. Each bomb is eight times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped by the US on Hiroshima, making Trident a weapon of mass destruction capable of killing millions of people.
3. Replacing Trident would conflict with the British Government's international commitments, including under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which calls for both disarmament and no nuclear proliferation. Under this, Britain has made 'an unequivocal undertaking' to eliminate its nuclear weapons.
4. On 4th December 2006, the Prime Minister unveiled a White Paper proposing to develop a new generation of submarines for Trident missiles. He said submarine numbers may be cut from four to three, while the number of nuclear warheads would be cut by 20%. He said the UK would also join the US programme to extend the life of the Trident missiles until 2042 - and would then "work with" the US on successor missiles. See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6205174.stm