A Greenpeace volunteer on the boom at Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland
I don’t know if your remember our Trident Tour last year - that five week frenzy of Faslane blockading, crane climbing, arrests, solitary confinement, losing a ship, getting it back again, bearing witness, gigs, press conferences, political events and rallies.
Well, it’s been a long time coming but, over a year after the event, I can give you the final results of the legal wranglings that ensued.
If you remember, we were
on a mission to stop an increasingly
maniacal Tony Blair from spending £76
billion of taxpayers' money on indulging his fetish for weapons of mass
destruction (and building a new generation of them). We took our floating
washing machine ice-breaking ship, the Arctic Sunrise, to the nuclear
weapons base at Faslane, blockaded it and got a flotilla of inflatable boats
and canoes into the water.
One intrepid volunteer successfully made it onto the boom protecting the base (see the picture) before being arrested and, thanks to the wondrous manoeuvres of Captain Waldemar, the Sunrise blockaded the base for a full 14 hours before being boarded by the MoD (listen to the boarding). Pretty much everyone involved was arrested and held in cells for three days - where we survived on a diet of powdered tea, deep fried grease and pea basketball.
The authorities didn't pursue charges for most of us; only Captain Waldemar and an apparently random selection of five volunteers had their charges pursued. (When I say pursued, I don't mean to imply any sense of speed; the cogs of Scottish justice have turned pretty slowly for us.)
Captain Waldemar’s charges were dropped in January and finally, this week, the last of the charged activists were found (in their absence) not guilty of byelaw breaches, and their plea of guilty to breach of the peace was accepted. The last of our boats should be released from detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure and making their way back to us soon.
So it's finally all over. Although, of course, the Sunrise’s adventures continue as ever (and she now has her very own webcam to prove it). And here’s another chance to watch the wonders of Inflatable Cam, and the 24-hour protest at Parliament in the run up to the Trident vote:
The Faslane blockade:
Protest at Parliament:
