On the morning of Sunday September 13, three Swedish peace activists were arrested within the perimeter fence of VSEL Barrow on suspicion of going equipped to commit criminal damage. One of the three had begun to dismantle equipment outside the "Devonshire Hall", the "shed" in which HMS Vengeance, the fourth and final British Trident submarine, is being constructed.
Vengeance will be launched and formally named on Saturday 14 September. CND is organising a protest against the launch.
Calling themselves "Bread Not Bombs ploughshares", the three carried with them household hammers, a group statement, and individual statements. They had been intending to enter the "Devonshire Hall" and disarm the Trident submarine.
In their group statement, the three wrote:
"The military force of the western world is the largest barrier to creating
justice in the economic world. For the most part the western world doesn't
have to make a show of force to keep the developing countries under
control, but the military is still the guarantor of suppression and nuclear
wepons are the ultimate threat... We are taking this action, as privileged
people in living in the First World, because nuclear weapons are a threat
against all human beings and against future generations. As long as nuclear
weapons exist humanity is doomed to live in fear that they will be used."
The three are: Annika Spalde, 29, a nurse studying International Relations at Gothenburg University; Stellan Vinthagen, 33, a Peace Researcher at Gothenburg University; and Ann-Britt Sternfeldt, 38, from Länghem, an ex-town-councillor, a writer and an administrator for an Aid Charity working in the Gambia. Annika Spalde and Stellan Vinthagen live in a suburb of Gothenburg called Hammarkullen (literally: "Hammer Hill").
All three are members of the Swedish ploughshares movement, and recently attended the Trident Ploughshares 2000 (TP2000) Camp at Coulport Trident warhead base in Scotland. There are currently seven TP2000 activists on remand in Scottish prisons.
The ploughshares movement takes it name from the verses by the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Micah who write of beating "swords into ploughshares". The ploughshares movement began in 1980 in the United States and is characterised by: a strict adherence to nonviolence; the attempted disarmament of weapons systems with hand-tools; the participants taking full responsibility for their actions.
The three were interviewed, charged with "conspiracy to commit criminal damage", held over night at Barrow Police Station, and are appearing before Barrow Magistrates' Court at 10am on Monday 14 September.