Peace campaigners mark forty years of Faslane
'Peace campaigners joined protest groups at the camp for three days of music, talks and workshops.'
A giant peace logo arrived at Glasgow Meeting House last month to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Faslane peace camp.
The three-metre rainbow-coloured logo stopped at the Meeting house on 9 June after being towed up to Scotland from southern England by activists from Trident Ploughshares and Extinction Rebellion. It then headed on to the landmark camp which was set up near to HM Naval Base Clyde (‘Faslane’) on 12 June, 1982, when anti-nuclear protesters Bobby and Margaret Harrison set up a tent on the side of the A814. The peace camp consists of caravans and buses lining a short stretch of road approaching the nuclear weapons base, which hosts four Trident submarines.
Gillean Lawrence, of the Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: ‘The action of peace campaigners from across the UK is compliant with international law.
‘Since January 2021, the UN Treaty [on] the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has made nuclear weapons illegal as has happened with the successful bans on landmines, chemical and biological weapons.
‘So far, 61 countries have ratified the Treaty, including our neighbours, Ireland, and will be meeting in Vienna this month.’
Peace campaigners joined protest groups at the camp for three days of music, talks and workshops from 10 to 12 June. The anniversary was also marked with multiple arrests after activists formed a human blockade outside the Clyde nuclear weapons base. There were also arrests eight miles away at the Royal Naval Armaments Depot at Coulport, where activists also towed the peace logo and Trident nuclear missiles are stored.
According to the Faslane Peace Camp Facebook page, all participants were released from custody and the group will publicise court dates as they become known.
The protests were launched in advance of a Vienna gathering of state representatives over the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
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