Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Protesters Stop Nuclear Weapons Convoy in Stirling and Balloch

Trident Ploughshares | 10.05.2004 16:42 | Anti-militarism

There were six arrests sunday afternoon as anti-Trident protesters twice stopped a nuclear weapons convoy traveling from Burghfield in England to the warhead storage depot at Coulport on Loch Long, Scotland.

Sam on top of a UK nuclear warhead carrier
Sam on top of a UK nuclear warhead carrier


The first interruption took place just beneath the Stirling castle. One activist waved the leading truck to a standstill and then climbed on top of its cab while others went in front to block its advance. It was 20 minutes before the trucks could set off again. There were four arrests: Jane and Sam from Helensburgh, Roz from Edinburgh and Morag from Faslane Peace Camp. They were taken to Stirling police station and are expected to be released this evening.

When the convoy reached Balloch on Loch Lomondside there was a heavy police presence but in spite of this the convoy was again halted. Two people were arrested.

The convoys are a regular feature on the roads of Central Scotland. Their task is to take Trident warheads to and from the Burghfield assembly plant to the Coulport store to be checked and maintained. Each warhead is believed to have the destructive power of 8 times the bomb which was
dropped on Hiroshima.

The protesters were from Trident Ploughshares, Stirling CND and Faslane Peace Camp.
David, a Stirling CND member from Tillicoultry, said: "We were delighted that the convoy was held up in Stirling. We were able to explain to large numbers of passing motorists that they were close to Britain's very own weapons of mass destruction."

Trident Ploughshares
- Homepage: http://www.tridentploughshares.org

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

You fell for it again ??????

10.05.2004 17:04

I can't believe you continue to target these decoy lorries and not the real ones. I know we need to remind the public about the movement of these weapons but why not stop the real lorries ?

Proeg


Evidence Please?

10.05.2004 19:13

Er, Proeg, do you have any evidence that these are decoy lorries, or are you just making that assumption? I can see how there might be a case for such vehicles, but until you provide proof, such as a description or drawing of a genuine lorry, I really can't see how you can make that claim unsupported.

Pilgrim


nice one!!

10.05.2004 22:31

I've got that warm hearing-about-other-people's-actions glow of inspiration.

Thanks; people like you keep me sane...

:-)


NO CHOICE

11.05.2004 11:12

i'LL TRY THIS AGAIN, . THE WESTERN WORLD IS DEVELOPING WEOPONS WHICH CAN BE DEPLOYED BY THE PUSH OF A BUTTON.YOU REMEMBER WHEN WOMEN WERE INVITED INTO THE ARMED FORCES, THATS WHEN THOSE WHO PLANNED THE FUTURE KNEW THAT THERE WERE NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH MEN FOR THE WARS TO COME, THAT THERE WERE NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH YOUTH TO SACRIFICE.
THE WEST DEPENDS UPON RESORCES EXHAUSTED IN OUR LANDS, WE'VE GOT TWENTY YEARS, DURING WHICH TIME WE EITHER GLOBALISE AND CONTROL BY REMOTE OR WE STARVE IN OLD AGE, WHAT DO YOU WANT?

JON WOOD


These are the REAL bomb convoys

11.05.2004 12:20

Just to clear up Proeg's confusion.

This convoy was tracked from Burghfield, near Aldermaston, to Scotland over four days by Nukewatch - a network set up twenty years ago (!) to monitor and protest against the transportation of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons components.
Nukewatch had advance notice that a convoy was due to leave because we monitor movements in and out of places like Aldermaston, (where the nuclear components of the bombs are built) Burghfield (where the bombs are actually assembled) and Coulport (where the bombs for the Trident submarines based at Faslane are stored.) As well as the overnight stops that the convoys use en route to Scotland.
We have been tracking and monitoring these convoys for twenty years. Over that time we have gathered a huge body of information from leaks and by physically watching the places where the convoy goes. We have photo's of the containers the bombs are moved in, we know how the bombs are moved from the bunkers at Coulport to be fixed on the missiles on the subs and we know how nuclear materials are moved from Sellafield and Chapelcross to Aldermaston for the warheads.
Thousands of hours have been spent by activists carefully watching the bases, logging vehicle movements and noting where vehicles go inside the bases. It would have been impossible for any other lorries to move from these bases with any regularity without us noticing them. Nukewatch can produce evidence of every stage of the production of nuclear weapons with photo's of the vehicles used and are more than happy to produce detailed evidence that these convoys carry nuclear weapons.
The lorries carrying nuclear weapons are specially-converted Foden trucks. They are distinctive in that they have seven axles unlike any other lorry you will see on British roads (the maximum is usually six.) This is due to the extra weight of the lorry's armour. The lorries travel with a large escort made up of a Green Godess fire engine, a coach, a large Renault mobile workshop with trailer, a Scammel tow-truck and five or six minibuses containing armed Commanchio Company Royal Marines and armed MoD police security escort. Four MoD police motorcycle outriders also escort the convoy to help with traffic control. In Scotland the convoy is joined by minibuses of Strathclyde Police 'V' unit - Strathclyde's tactical support unit.
(The police with the baseball caps in the photo are the MoD police escort - also present at this action were members of Central Scotland Police from Stirling)

Hope that helps clear up Proeg's confusion.
For information about Nukewatch please phone 01436 679194.

Phill Jones


Right or Wrong Lorries

01.06.2005 21:30

Its great to see action taking place, and bellow insults at me for not knowing, but is anyone doing anything to annoy the US bases in UK. I agree with NON Nuke s-weaponary, and I salute all the very needed work going on. But we need the yanks gone from here. any suggestions.. Thank you Mx

Anon


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech