Sussex students block report. 25/11/06 to 27/11/06.

We arrived in dribs and drabs by bus and car early Saturday morning, all were sleep deprived but in high spirits nonetheless as we were welcomed by the waiting members of the steering group and the ever generous peace campers. One car stopped at the north gate on the way to our roadside campsite, and a group got out to admire the total lack of police presence while the car temporarily blocked the entrance. If only we’d known this would be the case…!

By the end of the day (all thanks to faslane365 and the peace camp—thankyou!) we had a cosy communal space in a borrowed marquee, with a kitchen, carpet on the floor, and even a tinsel covered makeshift Christmas tree! We spent the afternoon putting up banners and decorations and had a good presence outside the gate- singing, drumming and blowing kazoos. Despite invitations to stay at the peace camp, we felt that camping by the cemetery (about 200 yards from the north gate) was very important to maintain a continued presence and make the most of our limited stay. The only disadvantage was the activist paranoia some of us experienced due to the proximity of infra-red cameras and directional microphones which we were sure were monitoring us at all times. This led to ridiculous attempts to hold action planning meetings in the boggy, bramble infested woodland at night and to hold coded meetings in the tent. However, by Sunday all secrecy was totally abandoned, and seemed to make no difference to the success of our plans anyway.

The only other problem with this site is its sensitive nature for local people, being right beside the ancient village cemetery. Several locals came down when we arrived and were very irate about our presence at this spiritually and culturally important local spot. After some amicable conversation they agreed that the huge base and mined fields around the beautiful graveyard were more offensive than our tents, but I was left feeling quite alarmed at the lack of communication and understanding between peace activists and the local community. Despite widespread hatred of the utter destruction of local culture, businesses and environment imposed by faslane, most locals are very negative about the possibility of change and seem to think growth of the site and it’s nuclear arsenal are inevitable. There is also some resentment of the peace campers and protestors, who are seen as utopian ‘protest tourists’ or ‘crusties’ with little real understanding of the issue at hand. I was quite upset by the sense of fear and separation they had expressed and after bringing the issue up that night we decided to bridge the gap by meeting the local vicar and congregation and doing a leaflet stall in Helensburgh. I would strongly recommend that future groups strive to make some contact with locals; not only to let them know why they are being disturbed by blockades but also to perhaps elicit their support and even presence at protests and blockades- building and encouraging a local resistance, or at least easing their fear of activists a bit.

On Sunday, after a hearty porridge breakfast (prepared by our AMAZING cooking team- who kept our spirits up all weekend with nosh and love), we welcomed the last arrivals (bringing our group up to 31 people), and sent two people off to Garelochead church service while the rest of us prepared for a colourful demo and blockade of the north gate. The plan went totally to pot when heavy handed and unreasonable police tactics led to our 5 decoy clowns being nicked for crossing the road and standing on the roundabout. Having missed the opportunity to seize this moment as we were too busy shouting at the police, 3 pairs hurriedly locked on at different parts of the roundabout using neck to leg d-locks which were quite effective, especially for one clowned-up pair who fervently resisted arrest and made the lock tight around the neck so that the police had to take especial care when cutting it off, which took ages. One other ‘non-arrestable’ was later arrested for crossing the road. Having lost 12 of our number we bit our lips but stayed at the gate singing and shouting for some time before returning to plan the next days strategy, much helped by the tactical debriefing we received from the police that evening, during which they recommended blocking the A814 for maximum impact!! You really get the impression that its just a game of cat and mouse for them- and they want it to be as interesting as possible. Slightly demeaning for us, but useful nonetheless.

Monday morning at 7.30 am 8 of us left the peace camp, where we had stayed in luxury accommodation in a heated bus, and marched down the A814 to lock on in two groups of 4 across the road, blocking the north and south gate from this direction (on the advice of the chirpy coppers the night before!). We used a combination of thick arm tubes and neck to leg d-locks and blocked both lanes for almost an hour, slowing traffic for a further hour or so as blockaders were moved from 1 lane. My arm-tube buddy and I were last to be cut out and had lots of fun blowing up and tying balloons for the pigs one handed, and jabbering away to them while they cut at the tube. We resisted arrest as long as possible and were eventually carried to the van where we even refused to walk up the steps and had to be literally thrown onto the seats! In the van we congratulated each other on a good job and chatted happily while being processed and transported to various cells. Being the last one in, I got to see the mug shots of all my friends laid out in the processing portacabin, and giggled out loud at the range of silly faces being pulled in each one. Not to be left out, I put my arm around the attending officer and stuck my tongue out as the camera was pointed in my face. Being arrested for ‘breach of the peace’ for trying to stop nuclear mass-murder definitely has its funny side!

After processing, the 6 arrested girls were taken to Helen Street station, blowing balloons, debating nuclear issues with the cops and chirping all the way. After an amusing emptying of pockets, where balloons, feathers, toys and other clowning accessories were meticulously recorded, we were grabbed by a forceful wpc and strip searched in a locked room. I protested several times but actually found the whole experience fairly amusing- did she think I had a bloody war-head up there or something? Come on! Despite this thorough violation, I later discovered we had all had a good giggle, especially since none of us had washed or changed in at least 4 days and the experience cannot have been pleasant for the cop either!

We were placed in separate cells along with our books (I chose a book on direct action to read while another of our crew had taken ‘the anarchists cookbook’ with him!!), and I settled down to enjoy 24 hrs of peace and quiet. I gladly gobbled the scaldingly hot, burnt lunch (which was indeed ‘welded to the container’ to quote another report), and settled down to read. After singing a couple of songs and whistling ‘I shall be released’ in the brilliant cell acoustics, a friendly wpc opened the door and said we were leaving. ‘To which police station?’ I asked- only to be laughed at and told that I was free to leave. ‘Damn it!’ I thought, ‘I was just getting into that book’. The 6 of us assembled outside only 2 hours after we were booked in and set off to the local pub to compare stories and our shock that we were already out.

After being collected along with the arrests from the previous day (who stayed inside the full 24hours), we trundled home and went straight up to the north gate in full effect to hold a long and energetic noise demo as a goodbye statement. We played leapfrog and british bulldog right in front of the gate, blocking a few cars with no-one stopping us. We sang, banged pans, drums and spoons on the railings and thoroughly vexed the MOD pigs for many hours. At 11pm 2 girls who had only just got out of the cells were arrested again for running around the roundabout, and we all shouted ‘police, police-YOU are a breach of the peace’..amongst other things. At 12 midnight we finally left to threats of arrest for noise pollution, feeling happy and rewarded by our active weekend. The girls were released the next morning with another slap on the wrist (or an invitation to come back in our eyes!) and we were all packed up and off by tuesday night, feeling thoroughly proud of our achievements.

Despite considerable lack of equipment and organisation, we feel we had a very successful weekend, not least because of our continued presence at the north gate for almost 3 days. Many of the students who ventured all the way up to faslane had never taken direct action or even taken part in a political protest before. All returned inspired, energetic, and determined to keep up the fight against our government’s expensive and immoral wars, and playground-bully attitude to defence- using effective, direct tactics. Bring it on!

We extend our deepest thanks to faslane365 and the peace camp for making our stay so pleasant. You were absolutely wonderful- good luck with the campaign! Finally- best of luck to all the following groups-enjoy yourselves and shut the bastards down!!!!!