Sheridan Faslane Acquittal is Step Forward, Claim Activists

TRIDENT PLOUGHSHARES Press Release: 25th June 2002
Anti-Trident campaigners hailed MSP Tommy Sheridan’s acquittal today on a charge of breaching the peace at a Faslane blockade as a significant step forward which will cast further doubt on the police policy of mass arrests at demonstrations at the nuclear weapons base.

Tommy was one of the 170 people arrested at the blockade of the base last October and was on trial today in Helensburgh District Court before Justice of the Peace John Macphail. Both police witnesses acknowledged that the demonstration was good-natured and friendly, though one did admit that he found the act of arresting the MSP nerve-wracking! Tommy then submitted that there was no evidence of the alarm, distress or serious disturbance necessary to prove a charge of breach of the peace. While JP Macphail might not approve of his aims he should acknowledge that there was a right to take part in peaceful demonstrations  that was the cost of living in a democratic society. Tommy then quoted from a letter he had had from Defence Minister Lewis Mooney in response to his own query about the effect of the demonstration on the work of the base. The Minister said that the operations of the base had not been affected, although there was some inconvenience.

After a long adjournment the JP returned to say that he was not persuaded that there was a sufficiency of evidence and upheld Tommy’s submission that there was no case to answer.

Trident Ploughshares campaigners were delighted with the outcome. Jane Tallents said: “The result today is highly significant. The basic facts of the case were not in dispute so when the JP says there was not “sufficiency of evidence” we can take that to mean that there was not sufficient evidence of alarm, distress or serious disturbance. In other words he has accepted that these elements need to be proved. This basic argument about breach of the peace has been made time and again by peaceful protesters in this court in recent months and it is great that at last the penny has dropped, at least for Mr. Macphail. This gives us hope that one day the courts will recognise that Trident that is the crime - not the peaceful action we take against it.”

As a result of the Tommy Sheridan outcome the case of Mark Rietma, 27, a social worker from Glasgow (who was facing the same charge in the afternoon) was anticipated as a test of whether the JP would maintain his new perception of the law. In the event, the case was deserted by the Crown when a police witness failed to identify Mark.

A mass blockade of the Faslane base is planned for 22nd April 2003.