Krista and Katri at the Trident Ploughshares camp before their swim
At 1.15 am on Tuesday 18th August 3 peace activists swam to within 10 metres of the Trident nuclear submarine HMS Vigilant which was at its mooring in the high security area of the Faslane base. The three Trident Ploughshares 2000 divers from the international organisation For Mother Earth were clad in wet suits and carrying disarmament tools. They breached the outer circle of security at the Faslane Naval Base and reached Berth 12, causing panic among the security forces.
Said a camper at the permanent Peace Camp at Faslane: " It was like a pin-ball machine! All the lights went on and the alarms went off. All hell broke loose."
Katri Silvonen from Finland (21) and Krista van Velzen from the Netherlands (23), both working full-time as volunteers at the international office of For Mother Earth in Gent (Belgium), and Rick Springer, an author and disarmament campaigner from the USA (47), were arrested by MOD security around Berth 12 where the fully armed submarine HMS Vigilant was berthed. The submarine had completed its first nuclear patrol in the first few days of August. The three swimmers made a common statement reading
: "If you attempt to disarm an illegal nuclear submarine, you may be considered as threat to safety. If you threaten to incinerate millions of people, and the very existence of our planet, it is called national security". The activists stated clearly that they are here to stop the planning of crimes against humanity.
Along with this sea-borne team. For Mother Earth had also two land teams with a total of seven non-violent disarmers. Their sea-borne team had one Dutch activist, one from the USA and one from Finland. The land based teams had one Dutch, two UK, one Finnish and one Belgian.