Nuclear Weapons Convoy Stopped in Scotland

On the afternoon of Monday 18 March protesters halted a Trident nuclear weapon truck convoy for 30 minutes amid allegations of rough and unprofessional behaviour on the part of Strathclyde Police. Protesters stopped the convoy in the village of Balloch on the banks of Loch Lomond by getting in front of, underneath, and on top of the vehicles carrying the warheads. 13 activists were arrested. The twenty odd protesters were joined by sympathetic onlookers from the village.

The convoy left the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Burghfield near Reading on Saturday 16 March, stopping overnight near Peterborough and then at Abermarle Barracks near Newcastle. It traveled to Scotland on Monday on the M74 and the M80, passing through Stirling and then heading west for nuclear weapons store at Coulport on Loch Long.

Nukewatch Comment:

"It is absolutely vital that we draw public attention to this criminally dangerous road traffic. The protest reflects growing public concern about the hypocritical stance of the United Kingdom as it joins with the US in raising alarm about weapons of mass destruction in the hands of Iraq and other pariah states at the same time as maintaining its own terror weapons as an active threat."

Officers of the Strathclyde mobile "V" Division, which travels with the convoys through the Strathclyde and Central police areas, were seen to handle the protesters roughly, dragging some of them along the ground unnecessarily.

Nukewatch comment:

" The behaviour of "V" Division today was quite out of order. Unlike their colleagues who police demonstrations at Faslane they have a macho ethos and haven't a clue about handling peaceful protest. It is time the senior management of the force got them under control again otherwise the suspicion will spread that the good police behaviour at Faslane is at least partly motivated by the fact that Faslane events are in the public spotlight."

NUKEWATCH UK is a network of groups and individuals which in Scotland includes Scottish CND, Faslane Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares. They campaign against the transportation of nuclear warheads by awareness raising, lobbying and peaceful direct action.