Scottish Catholic Observer

A number of people were arrested during an anti-nuclear demonstration outside Plymouth’s Royal Naval base.

Anti-nuclear campaigners from as far as Switzerland travelled to Plymouth for a non-violent and peaceful blockade of Devonport Dockyard beginning at 6am on Monday.

Some protestors lay down across the road, while others chained or glued themselves together. A small group also got on to Drake’s Island at the mouth of the dockyard in Plymouth Sound. The main road outside the dockyard was closed to traffic for about two hours and workers had to go in on foot. Trident Ploughshares said it was expressing an ‘unambiguous message of opposition’ to the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon system.

A local church has offered accommodation to people who have travelled a long way for the protest. Groups represented include Christian CND, Pax Christi, environmentalists, and several parishes.

“Radiation and people don’t mix and to have something like a Trident refitting programme in a city of 250,000 people is a bad idea,” protester Shirley Law said.

Plymouth Moorview MP Alison Seabeck said she had ‘some sympathy’ with the protest, but getting rid of Trident was not the answer.

“In a perfect world I wouldn’t want nuclear weapons,” she said. “However, we’re not in a perfect world and I therefore support the continuation of Trident.”