Blockade Reports

At around 2.30 pm today (July 25), Strathclyde police arrested 10 people, including atomic bomb survivors (‘Hibakusha’) from Nagasaki during a nonviolent blockade of the main gates of the Faslane nuclear base in Scotland, where the UK’s Trident nuclear weapons are deployed.

It makes a change from windmills…..
About 40 academics from several countries gathered outside the north gate of Faslane Base on the Clyde to hold a conference on Trident and to blockade the base. Surrounded by the magnificent scenery of lochs and mountains, our makeshift conference hall was a barricaded corner of pavement with a few rocks to sit on and a small ‘audience’ of police guarding the gate.

On the side of this most beautiful Scottish loch, Garlochhead, whose surrounding mountains dwarf every man-made pretension, lies the Faslane Naval Base. 11,000 people’s work and livelihood are dependent upon it. If you look at it from just a little way up the northern slopes, as here, it appears benign, innocuous, even insignificant until you spot the submarine moored to the pier on the right. Even right outside the North Gate, which you can glimpse in the first photo, there is the ‘normal’ mix of armed guards, unscaleable fences and precision security on each and every vehicle and individual entering or leaving. ‘Normal’ in that we have all become used to seeing this combination outside army barracks, nuclear generating stations, government research labs, etc. etc. What makes Faslane different is the unimaginable horror it contains.

On the side of this most beautiful Scottish loch, Garlochhead, whose surrounding mountains dwarf every man-made pretension, lies the Faslane Naval Base. 11,000 people’s work and livelihood are dependent upon it. If you look at it from just a little way up the northern slopes, as here, it appears benign, innocuous, even insignificant until you spot the submarine moored to the pier on the right. Even right outside the North Gate, which you can glimpse in the first photo, there is the ‘normal’ mix of armed guards, unscaleable fences and precision security on each and every vehicle and individual entering or leaving. ‘Normal’ in that we have all become used to seeing this combination outside army barracks, nuclear generating stations, government research labs, etc. etc. What makes Faslane different is the unimaginable horror it contains.

Having recently returned from Glastonbury where they helped decorate the fence with banners celebrating 25 years of resistance to UK nuclear weapons Faslane Peace Campers established a blockade of the Faslane Naval Base today. Three peace campers were arrested and charged with a “Breach of the Peace” after they “locked on” to create a human blockade of the nuclear weapons base in opposition to Trident. Displaying a banner which read “Trident: Illegal, Immoral, Intolerable” and one panel of the colorful “Smash Trident” Triptych which they had painted for the Glastonbury fence in celebration of the FP|C birthday the trio blocked the road to the South Gate of the base using heavy concrete reinforced pipes. One of the lock-ons used had become affectionately known as “the mother of all lock-ons”, and had been carted from one training to another but not used until now because of concerns that its prodigious bulk would prohibit fast action. But when the cutting crew chipped away the top layer of concrete and revealed a rusty saw blade Matt and Squeaky immediately unlocked. Allaying the concerns of the cutting crew for their safety Squeaky, one of the blockaders said “I am a nonviolent person. The next time I do an action I don’t want these guys to think I might do something that might harm someone.”

Download the Queens Faslane Report - (PDF)

“I believe that I am upholding international law, and that this is my duty as a citizen of this country, and of the world.”

To hear myself saying this was a great relief, as I had deliberately not prepared a statement to make when the charges “breach of the peace” were brought against me at Faslane Nuclear Base. I was relieved that what came out was both logical and correct.

Over 90 students have participated in the Strident Tent State over the past week, exploring nuclear non-proliferation through discussions, workshops and speaker sessions. Following the incident in Glasgow on Saturday, our blockading plans were thrown off course. Having liaised with the police, the Strident students agreed not to take direct action on either Coulport or Faslane for the duration of Sunday, to prevent Strathclyde police from being overstretched while pursuing their investigations. This decision was made in order to maintain an open dialogue with the police and local residents. Both police and residents had already voiced their gratitude for the way in which we had approached the organisation of Strident and our cooperation when the police asked us to leave our lawful protest outside the North Gate of Faslane as soon as they heard about what happened in Glasgow on Saturday. On Sunday we continued to have a presence at the gate of Coulport, with an assurance to the police that we would not require arrest. A tea party with delicious scones was accompanied by samba, acro and queer politics workshops, with more workshops including Plane Stupid and a vital and exciting direct action project aimed at preventing the destruction of Europe's largest wilderness in Iceland (www.savingiceland.org).

FASLANE 365 - Song written by Leon Rosselson after their November Block

Autumn trees are red and gold in the light of the breaking dawn
The wind rakes the waters of the Loch and the rain drives down

The Strident Tent State has come to a consensus decision to assure the public and police that there will be no direct action to disrupt the daily running of Faslane or Coulport for the whole of Sunday 1st July.

We got up quite early but it turned out to be a good idea because it meant that we could sleep in cells as we had plenty of time to.
To be honest we did feel very unprepared as none of us had done a NVDA before and we had not really practised putting on our lock-on tubes.

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday around twenty of us were fortunate(?) enough to be there as a Trident submarine made its way through the tight spot at Rhu Point to dock in Faslane. Determined to be seen and heard we headed across to hold up luminous pink banners and large placards calling for Peace Now!

Faslane, near Glasgow, June 27, 2007

Over 40 academics and students gathered today at the nuclear base of Faslane in Scotland in a bid to convince new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to scrap his plans to renew the Trident nuclear weapons system. The conference and blockade combined academic discussion with non-violent direct action blockading the base[1]. The academics insisted Gordon Brown justifies his commitment to Trident to the intellectual community, as well as to his deputy leader, Harriet Harman, as he has so far failed to do so. The conference and blockade was especially timely, occurring two weeks after MSPs voted overwhelmingly against Trident’s replacement, at odds with Westminster. There is also increasing public disquiet about the cost to UK tax payers exceeding £50 billion[2].

When we (Rachel and Jo) came to Faslane at Hallowe-en we determined that we would return in June. We had visions of spending the whole night at the gate, imagining spending the short hours of darkness under starlight. It wasn't quite like that on June 22/23. Nevertheless we found our time at Faslane has rekindled our faith in the project. We were inspired by Angie's positive spirit, her amazing commitment and her sheer grit. We were warmly welcomed at the Peace Camp, and we were much impressed by the attitudes of the members of the Strathclyde police force whom we met. We were struck once again by the disturbing contrast between the tranquillity of the loch and the ugly nature of the base that squats on its banks. And we had a curious encounter with a cyclist, a man who works at the base. As he cycled past in the morning he gave us the full benefit of his vocabulary of insults. Then on his return, he stopped and apologised with much embarrassment. We were then able freely to discuss with him the meaning of the base and our involvement with the blockade. I don't think we converted him to support for the opposition to Trident, although he confessed that redundancy would suit him well!

When we (Rachel and Jo) came to Faslane at Hallowe-en we determined that we would return in June. We had visions of spending the whole night at the gate, imagining spending the short hours of darkness under starlight. It wasn't quite like that on June 22/23. Nevertheless we found our time at Faslane has rekindled our faith in the project. We were inspired by Angie's positive spirit, her amazing commitment and her sheer grit. We were warmly welcomed at the Peace Camp, and we were much impressed by the attitudes of the members of the Strathclyde police force whom we met. We were struck once again by the disturbing contrast between the tranquillity of the loch and the ugly nature of the base that squats on its banks. And we had a curious encounter with a cyclist, a man who works at the base. As he cycled past in the morning he gave us the full benefit of his vocabulary of insults. Then on his return, he stopped and apologised with much embarrassment. We were then able freely to discuss with him the meaning of the base and our involvement with the blockade. I don't think we converted him to support for the opposition to Trident, although he confessed that redundancy would suit him well!

Around 25 people gathered to celebrate the Solstice at Faslane as part of the Faslane 365 blockades. The midges were horrendous, in huge biting clouds, and it was only with the arrival of large quantities of black netting provided by Clare, from the Peace Camp, and loads of midgie hoods, from Jane, that we all survived. The police cowered in the safety of a police van which had its engine running all night. They haven't started acting on the necessity of preventing climate change yet!

Writers and performers arrested in Second
‘Power of the Word’ Blockade Against Trident

Five writers and singers were arrested at the Faslane nuclear base after a five hour “Power of the Word” blockade against Trident on June 5 involving around 30 writers and performers from all over Britain.

Between 50 and 60 singers from choirs across UK braved torrential, continuous and prolonged rain and onslaughts of midges, to sing our opposition to trident at Faslane on Sunday.

After travelling up from Glasgow we gathered at the North gate clad in waterproofs and brandishing umbrellas and soggy songsheets (well done to all of those who have all the singing in the rain equipment fully sussed!). Banners on song themes included “Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin’ alive!” and “Stop in the name of love!” (thanks, James and Penny).

The vigil lasted from 10:00am to 2:00pm.
At 2:00pm 25 people gathered next to the North Gate. We prayed, sang and read from the Holy Bible. A mini procession was formed to take statements made by the Christian demoninations and place them against the fence of the naval base.

“Faslane Nuclear Submarine Base Almost Brought to its Knees by Kidpower!”

. . . said Eva in a very satisfied voice to the police at the end of a sunny, wet and wonderful family blockade she had organised with Aly and Beck. Her son, Jacob (5), asked another policeman why there weren't any rainbows (given the sun and rain)? And the policeman promised to look out for rainbows, and let him know as soon as he saw one. This was after Barbie had swung from scaffolding and Ken had wielded bolt cutters, as even tiny kids toys came out against the insanity of nuclear weapons.