100 Arrested at Scottish Nuclear Submarine Base

international | miscellaneous | feature Monday October 22, 2001 00:30 by Graham Caswell Reported by Amanda Moloney - IMC Ireland

Over 100 peaceful protestors, including Irish Green MEP Patricia McKenna, have been arrested at the Trident Nuclear Submarine base in Faslane, Scotland. The protest was organised by Trident Ploughshares and Scottish CND and involved an estimated 2,000 people.

Today's action follows several previous protests at the Faslane base. Activists say that the base is illegal. There is also concern that nuclear submarines from Faslane may be used in the ongoing American and British attacks on Afghanistan.

However police were far quicker to act against the protestors in today's action than in previous actions. Over 100 people chained themselves to 3 seperate gates of the base at 7am to prevent morning shift workers from entering. Protestors were chained together with the chains encased in metal pipes, making them more difficult to cut. However police moved in shortly afterwards and began cutting them away, injuring several protestors in the process. In previous protests police have waited several hors before acting.

Today's rapid repression of the protest by police follows a recent pattern in Ireland where over 20 peaceful demonstrators have been arrested at three seperate protests during the past month. Today's Faslane protest included over a hundred Irish people of whom at least 13 have been arrested, including Green MEP Patricia McKenna. New regulations introduced by Scottish police mean that those without UK residence will be detained longer than UK residents.