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More than 100 people, including two members of the Scottish Parliament, have been arrested during an anti-nuclear protest at a submarine base in Scotland. Politicians and clergy joined the start of a three-day demonstration against the Trident fleet, which is based at Faslane. Scottish Socialist Party leader Tommy Sheridan MSP and Lloyd Quinan MSP, of the Scottish National Party, were among the first to be arrested.
By Monday evening, Strathclyde Police had arrested 111 people and two were detained by Ministrty of Defence officers. Organisers of the protest said they expect hundreds of people to attend from across Europe over the next few days. Mr Sheridan was jailed for a short time last year after refusing to pay a fine imposed for his part in an earlier protest. As he was being detained on Monday, he was told he was being charged with breach of the peace. He responded: "I came to Faslane today to protest against the illegality and immorality of nuclear weapons. "I've not, in any way, caused alarm to any other citizen. I therefore object that I have caused a breach of the peace." The demonstration has been organised by Scottish CND and Trident Ploughshares. One activist, Joy Mitchell, 68, from Berwick-upon-Tweed, said: "Our continued presence here is a clear message to the British Government that ordinary citizens will not tolerate them possessing and threatening to use a weapon which can only be used to kill innocent people. "Trident doesn't and can't discriminate between mothers and marines, toddlers and commandos, the elderly and the military."
'Morally wrong'
About 30 ministers and priests are said to be taking part in the action. The Reverend Alan Macdonald, convenor of the Church and Nation Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: "These weapons of mass destruction are morally and theologically wrong. "In fact it is blasphemy to have weapons of this kind which have no good purpose at all." Blockade spokesman David Mackenzie said: "The real achievement has been to get Trident back on the political agenda where it has recently been discussed by the Scottish Parliament.
"We believe our efforts have helped rebuild the anti-nuclear movement, certainly in Scotland, and the challenge is to do the same in England." At the beginning of February, seven anti-Trident activists were arrested at the Devonport naval dockyard in Plymouth during a protest against the refitting of the nuclear weapons submarine, HMS Vanguard. The submarines' usual base is at Faslane, but it was transported to the south coast for the essential work.
Persistent campaign
Anti-nuclear weapons campaigners have been protesting at Faslane during the month of February for more than three years. Last year, 379 people were arrested, including 15 churchmen, Labour MP George Galloway, Mr Sheridan and Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas.
It was the biggest anti-nuclear demo seen in Scotland since the early 1960s. Faslane is home to the four-strong Trident submarine fleet. Each vessel has 16 missile tubes and the weapons are said be accurate to within 100 yards.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1812910.stm
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