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09-Aug-2004

Security breach at Faslane Trident base highlights UK government hypocrisy

by: Trident Ploughshares

Scotland: On 9 August three peace activists entered the high security Faslane Naval Base on the Clyde and remained inside the base for over two hours. On the anniversary of the US bombing of Nagasaki, the two women and one man highlighted the continuing and illegal development of Britain's own weapons of mass destruction.

The activists stated that "the global proliferation of nuclear weapons makes the world a more dangerous place and is terrorism on a global scale."

The three Tp activists cut into the high security base, through an outer perimeter fence and through a second weld mesh fence. The "bandit alarm" was triggered closing all gates to the base for approximately two hours, consequently causing a queue of traffic at the main gate for this time. Two activists headed inside a high security area, before being detected by MOD police. They remained situated between the fence and the razor wire until Ministry of Defence police finally cut a hole through the weld mesh to reach the activists who were then arrested.

In a joint statement the three stated:
"We have chosen the anniversary of the destruction of the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the atomic bomb, on 9th August 1945, to take action to highlight the British Government's own weapons of mass destruction, present at Faslane.

As concerned and responsible citizens we are appalled by the hypocrisy of our government, which claims to be committed to disarmament under the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), yet shows no signs of fitting actions to words."

Earlier this summer the US and UK governments were accused by the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), of conspiring to break the international agreement to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. BASIC, along with another nuclear think tank, the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy in London, have detailed evidence of a large scale collaboration by the two countries to develop their nuclear arsenals, an activity that the NPT is specifically designed to prevent. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki must never be allowed to happen again, yet the US and UK governments are doing nothing to lessen that risk."

On 23 August, many activists from the Britain and abroad will be protesting, blockading and taking action at Faslane for "Carry on up the Clyde". Meanwhile there promises to be many more actions at bases on the Clyde during the two week Trident Ploughshares Disarmament Camp which begins on 18 August.

Source: TP2000