Activists Arrested Highlighting Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Clyde

international | miscellaneous | press release Tuesday August 31, 2004 14:50 by Adam - Trident Ploughshares

A group of four peace protesters were arrested shortly before midnight on Monday, after spray painting anti-nuclear slogans on the walls of the Faslane Naval Base “Media Reception Centre”. The slogans refer to the presence of British nuclear weapons of mass destruction on board Trident nuclear submarines based at Faslane. All four are members of the Trident Ploughshares disarmament campaign, which is currently holding its annual disarmament camp outside the nearby Coulport nuclear weapons depot.

The activists painted the slogans “Evil Illegal WMD”, “NO WMD”, “Trident Illegal”, “Peace” and “No nukes in the world” on the walls of the reception centre, in letters several feet high. They also painted the phrase “WMD Murder” on the road leading into the reception centre. After finishing their painting, three of the activists sat in the road to block the entrance to the site. It is thought that all four have been arrested for malicious mischief.

The Media Reception Centre is located in Rhu, near Helesburgh, 30 miles west of Glasgow. It operates as an off-site reception centre for journalists visiting the Faslane and Coulport Naval Bases.

Sue Brackenbury, one of those arrested last night, said “The Faslane Media Reception Centre is obscuring the truth about the presence of weapons of mass destruction on the Clyde. We are doing our own media work here, to point out the fact that the British government has a stockpile of nuclear weapons with a fire power equivalent to 1000 Hiroshima bombs. For once, people will be hearing the truth about these weapons.”

This action brings the number of arrests for the two week disarmament camp to 95. The camp is scheduled to end on Wednesday.