Twelve protestors, including a Buddhist monk, locked themselves together using plastic and metal tubes with some super-gluing themselves to create a human chain before lying in the entrance to the naval base, which is the home of the UK nuclear submarine fleet.

The demonstration was the last day of a year-long protest, dubbed Faslane 365, which resulted in 181 people being arrested during the day of demonstrations.

Jenny Welsh, aged 22, of Abington, was one of the protestors from Northampton who was arrested for breach of the peace.

She said: "Weapons of mass destruction serve no humane purpose.

"It's illegal under international law to prepare for war crimes, and using weapons that cannot discriminate between militants and civilians is a war crime. Therefore the trident system is illegal, and we should begin the disarming process now."

More than 1,000 demonstrators from around the world gathered at the Faslane base in the early hours of Monday morning.

An army of clowns intent on replacing the nuclear submarines with rubber ducks were arrested before they managed to get far into the loch.

Miss Welsh added: "There was a really good atmosphere because there were more protestors than the normal small groups.

"We'll have to wait and see what happens about my arrest because the police said I would have to wait for a letter from the Procurator fiscal."

Despite the end of the year-long campaign, campaigners say they intend to keep demonstrating at Faslane.