Protests as Trident arrives at Devonport

Seven anti-Trident activists were arrested today at the Devonport naval dockyard in Plymouth during a protest against the refitting of nuclear weapon submarine HMS Vanguard there.

The seven, Angie Zelter, Erica Wilson, Margaret Jones, Jill Wood, Liz Wilson, Richard Holt and Sue Brackenbury, sat down in the roadway and blocked the dockyard's Drake Gate. They were removed and charged with obstructing the highway. They are likely to be released from police custody later this evening.

HMS Vanguard was the first of the four British Trident submarines to be commissioned and has left its usual berth at Faslane in Scotland to undergo the refit, which is to include the removal and replacement of the fuel rods which power its nuclear reactor.

Around 300 people took part in a march against the submarine's arrival. The rally and march was organised by local campaign group CANSAR and was supported by CND, the Socialist Alliance and Friends of the Earth. They walked past the dockyards chanting "Trident must go" and "We don't want nuclear war" then lit candles at St Levan's Gate.

80 year old grandmother Raymonde Hainton from Essex who took part in the march said: "I am here today because I am totally opposed to the whole Trident system. I think it is highly dangerous, useless, expensive, immoral and illegal under international law. They should not be refitting HMS Vanguard, they should be scrapping it."

A Trident Ploughshares statement said: " HMS Vanguard should not be refitted but should be taken out of service along with the three other Trident boats, disarmed, de-commissioned and scrapped. The government's decision to perpetuate the Trident system is a great opportunity missed, a complete failure to imagine anything more positive than hatred, terror and the threat of mass murder. It is now more clear than ever that the only real steps towards disarmament will come from ordinary people."

Preparing Devonport for the refit cost £180 million more than budgetted and has not been completed in time for the arrival of HMS Vanguard. The new facilities at the dockyard failed to obtain full clearance from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. The NII indicated that approval would be given for the refit to go ahead, despite the fact that the work had not been completed up to the required standard. This clearance only applies to the refit of the first submarine. The total cost of the preparatory work has been given as £417 million.

There has also been concern about proposed increases in radioactive discharges, particularly tritium. The Environment Agency has agreed to allow the dockyard to increase tritium discharges by 300 per cent, but this has still to be approved by the Government.