Nuclear protest gran arrested

Adur Green Party treasurer Moyra Martin travelled to the Faslane base, near Glasgow, last week as part of a year-long protest.

She was part of a group of Quakers protesting peacefully at the base, home to four Trident submarines armed with nuclear warheads capable of delivering eight times the destructive power of the bombs which obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Japan, in 1945.

Moyra told the Herald: "There were 90 of us and 25 got arrested, including myself.

"It was my first arrest. It was for breach of the peace, which is really strange."

Moyra and six others were taken to Clydebank police station on Friday and released early the following morning.

Moyra said: "I was in good company. We each had a cell to ourselves, but we knew that the others were just up the corridor."

The group was taking part in a year-long civil resistance initiative, aiming to shut down the Faslane base from the beginning of the month until the end of September next year.

Moyra had spent two days at the Faslane base last month.

She explained that, this time, she had been arrested for playing a part in obstructing a lorry.

"Five of us decided to sit down in front of a gate. Then round the corner came this great juggernaut. It was a bit scary.

"The driver was revving the engine up. It was quite frightening," she said. The group was taking part in the blockade as part of the Faslane 365 campaign, which aims to hold a continuous peaceful blockade and vigil at the base.

Moyra said: "We believe that Britain should abandon its nuclear weapons, not build new ones.

"Otherwise, how can we hope to persuade other nations not to acquire them?

"Britain should lead the way on this. We have already got rid of the chemical and biological weapons the government once thought essential. Nuclear weapons should be next."

She added: "People can help by writing to their MPs to point out that Trident is immoral, illegal, incapable of defending us and a terrible waste of money.

"At a time when hospitals such as Southlands and Worthing are under threat, it is a disgrace that billions of pounds are squandered on something which could never rationally be used."