Santa Claus and Helpers Disrupt WMD Base at Faslane

Adapted from TRIDENT PLOUGHSHARES press release

Wednesday 22nd December 2004
This morning four people were arrested at Faslane, home to the UK’s Trident missile submarines, after blockading the main gate of naval base for two hours.

At 7.20 am. the protesters lay down in the gateway and attached themselves to each other, using tubes and climbing clips. One lock-on gave the MoD especial difficulty - it was 9.20 a.m. before they cut Morag Balfour and Dave Nicholson loose. The blockade was timed to disrupt the arrival of the morning shift and led to long tailbacks of worker traffic before the traffic was diverted to an auxiliary entrance.

Morag and Dave, Scottish Socialist Party activists from Glenrothes, were arrested along with Jean Oliver, an office administrator from Biggar and Barbara Dowling, from Glasgow.

The blockaders included Santa Claus (Dave Nicholson) and were all in colourful festive gear.

A Trident Ploughshares spokesperson said: "Today’s blockade may or may not be the last disruptive action at the Clyde WMD bases in 2004. We are determined to maintain the pressure on Britain’s illegal nuclear weapons for as long as it takes. Next year will be especially significant, given the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Conference in May. The nuclear weapon states, including Britain, have totally failed to fulfil their commitment under the NPT to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. This undermines the credibility of the Treaty and simply encourages further proliferation. We cannot let them away with this hypocrisy."

The protesters were released after approximately four hours in custody.