Eastern Bloc Report

Eastern Bloc Protest on Thursday 25th October

We arrived in Glasgow at 4.00am. At 6.00 some of us set off for Faslane, aiming to be there at 7.00 to catch the early shift. The main blockade was taking place at North Gate, but a few of us were dropped off to blockade South Gate. A group of students ran ahead with their tubes and chains and were soon lying in the road, preventing cars from driving into the base. We were soon surrounded by police. Because their hands were locked together inside plastic tubes, the blockaders had to be separated with cutting equipment. This took over an hour. The blockaders were then arrested, carried to police vans and driven away to two police stations. They were held for 30 hours, but released without charge.

We supporters wanted to make notes of the blockade and its treatment, but we were made to stand on the pavement, with a barrier of police between us and the blockaders. It was also still dark, so it was difficult to see clearly what was happening. After the arrests the chief MoD officer told us the whole process had taken 15 minutes too long because of the stiff resistance put up by the blockaders who wriggled while being cut free. This, he claimed, had put them and his officers at risk of injury. But he said the police supported the protest.

After the blockade the rest of our group tied banners to the fence outside the gate, for arriving workers to see – one said 1600 Hiroshimas Behind this Fence. The hour’s blockade had caused a long tail-back of cars waiting to enter the base. But as the South Gate shut at 9.00am, there seemed little point in staying after this time. There were three other blockades during the day, and a total of twenty-two arrests.