Protestors blockade sub base

2005-07-04 13:46

Faslane, Scotland - Hundreds of demonstrators on Monday blockaded a British nuclear submarine base in a protest aimed at the world's most powerful leaders who are in Scotland later in the week for the G8 summit.

Police said a 24-year-old man was arrested after he broke through a fence by an oil depot on the base at Faslane on the west coast of Scotland as police in fluorescent uniforms stood before young protestors in a carnival-like atmosphere.

Ruth Tanner, spokesperson for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), said the protest "is about anti-militarism and the G8", the Group of Eight leading industrial countries which will hold a summit from Wednesday at the Scottish golf resort at Gleneagles to discuss poverty in the third world.

Promises about poverty

"Ninety percent of arms dealing comes out of G8 countries. You can't make promises about poverty when you're pumping so much into arms," Tanner said.

Some of the protestors beat drums and one played a clarinet in a generally peaceful atmosphere.

"The overriding aim is to stop work at the base today. That's obviously succeeding," Tanner said.

Police said there were only 700 protestors at two gates on the perimeter fence and by the oil depot.

Strathclyde Police Chief Superintendent Mitch Roger, who is in charge of the police operations, said "we are used to these demonstrations at Faslane.

"My priority is to ensure public security and that the integrity of the base is maintained ... there is a potential for arrest ... it will depend very much on the behavior of the protestors," he said.

The summit of G8 countries - Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia - is due to discuss steps to end extreme poverty in Africa and other developing countries as well as to combat climate change.

Four Vanguard-class nuclear submarines which carry Trident nuclear missiles are based at Faslane, on the Clyde estuary, about 40 kilometres northwest of Glasgow, Scotland's biggest city.

Some 9 000 Royal Navy personnel, civilian defence workers and subcontractors work on the base.

- AFP