Faslane Peace Camp photo
from Faslane Peace Camp
“Never Again” (verb)
A 29-year-old woman was arrested on August 6 at the North gate of Faslane Naval Base, home to Trident, Britain’s nuclear arsenal of warheads and submarines. She was attending a vigil hosted by the Faslane Peace Camp, commemorating the lives lost as a result of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 74 years ago this week.
Bearing a placard reading “Never Again”, the protester doused herself in red paint, symbolic of the blood of the fallen, before lying in the road in front of the main gate, disrupting traffic as the base underwent its daily shift change. On refusing police’s requests to move, she was arrested at 4:15 p.m. for obstruction of the highway.
Peace camper Emma, who attended the demonstration, stated: “Once again we have the spectacle of a peaceful protester being arrested whilst the Trident deployments from Faslane continue with impunity, against international law and in contravention of every convention and rule of warfare. This was a measured response to the historical atrocities of nuclear war and the ongoing outrage of its continuation into the 21st century as an existential threat to humanity.”
Faslane Peace Camp photo
The anniversaries of the WW2 bombings of Japan – to date, the only use of nuclear weapons in conflict – has been a fixture of the peace camp’s calendar throughout its 37 year history. Last year saw three arrests for breach of the peace, when campaigners chained themselves together to block an entrance to the submarine base. All three later won submissions of “no case to answer” at Dumbarton Sheriff Court.
Following her arrest, the protester was detained and taken into custody at Clydebank police station. She was later released with vandalism offences and a court date at Dumbarton on August 28.