FOUR WOMEN BREACH HIGH SECURITY AT COULPORT AND FASLANE WHILST ON WAR CRIMES INSPECTION
During Coulport Womens Peace Camp to celebrate International Womens Week 4 women breached high security at both Faslane and Coulport. They were held for 58 hours and then given a Fiscal’s release by Dumbarton Procurator Fiscal at 12 noon on Monday16th March. Having been released from custody the following account makes clear why the authorities were keen to play this down:
On Friday 13th March Sylvia Boyes, Jenny Gaiawyn, Tracy Hart and Angie Zelter spent two hours walking undetected inside RNAD Coulport checking on the presence of nuclear materials. They found an unattended Police launch and requisitioned it for their lawful peace work. Driving past a security guard in the watchtower about the Explosives Handling Jetty where Trident submarines have their warheads loaded, the women drove the powerful police inflatable right up to the open hanger which appeared to be empty. After roughly 30 minutes inspection of Coulport dock facilities knowing two Trident submarines were docked at Faslane they decided to check on the weapons there. Driving past the security guard and waving once more they set off down the loch to Faslane. Approximately 50 minutes later, after passing at least four other Police inflatables and launches they reached Faslane. They were only spotted as they raced by the naval berths trying to find a way to the submarines. Knowing time was limited and as several police inflatables closed in on them they managed to land one woman on the seven foot high boom. She ran along the top to the closest part to the Trident submarines and was bumped off the boom into the submarine area by two Police boats hitting the boom from the two sides. The Police arrested her in the water swimming to the submarines. The other three women meanwhile were apprehended by another boat.
All four were questioned by CID at Faslane before being moved and detained at Maryhill Police Station in Glasgow and then moved to Clydebank Police Station.
The women had not expected security to be so lax and to have three hours to carry out their work before being detected only yards from the two Trident submarines. When the arresting officers were told that the women had borrowed the inflatable and driven it from Coulport without being detected they were amazed and incredulous. After checking with Coulport the MoD Police surmised with a grin that heads would roll. Once again women peacemakers have shown that there is no such thing as 100 per cent security.
A spokeswoman for the group stated:
Nuclear weapons are immoral and unlawful. We are ashamed that our government continues to own and deploy such terrible weapons of mass destruction. We will do all in our power to prevent these grave breaches of international humanitarian law. It is right and proper that we as global citizens at last put the MoD police boats to proper use - upholding the law !
The four women are part of a growing movement calling for the immediate abolition of all British nuclear weapons.
A spokesman for the MoD at Faslane said: "four women were arrested in connection with possession of an MoD boat." A spokesman for the Procurator Fiscal said: "No charges have been brought at this particular moment".