August Camp Arrests Reach 63

Late yesterday, Tuesday 17th August, activists from the Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp at Coulport entered the compound of a nuclear weapons submarine testing station at Cove on Loch Long, Scotland, and painted peace messages on the exterior of the building and on the compound tarmac.

The test station is a neat little building that normally sits unobtrusively in the middle of the picturesque village of Cove. It is now covered with slogans such as: TRIDENT IS ILLEGAL, TRIDENT IS VERMIN and NUREMBERG 4 (Referring to the Nuremberg Principles under which all citizens are responsible for upholding international humanitarian law).

Among the eight arrested at the site and charged with malicious mischief was Peter Lanyon (67), from Leiston in Suffolk, a member of the Woodwoses affinity group, which is based in Norwich,

Peter, a retired teacher, said:

"The Trident system, every bit of it, must be exposed for the ugly and malicious thing that it is. That is what we were up to last night."

Also arrested last night were Sylvia Boyes (55), of Birmingham and Judith Pritchard (77), of Malvern, Worcestershire, who were apprehended while cutting their way into the Coulport base, where Trident nuclear warheads are stored

The activists, drawn from 8 different nationalities, are part of the two week long Trident Ploughshares disarmament camp at Coulport. Since the camp began there have been 63 arrests.

Notes:
Members of Trident Ploughshares have pledged to rid the UK of its illegal weapons of mass destruction, by non-violent direct disarmament. In their view the UK Trident nuclear weapons system threatens mass destruction and genocide and is illegal under international law.

Contact on site: David Mackenzie 01436 850488 (mob: 07775711054)