Trident sub blockade at Scottish parliament

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Thursday March 10, 2005 19:23 by Trident Ploughshares

Activists, MSPs and MEPs lock-on for peace

Anti-Nuclear Protesters from across the country are locked on to a 25 foot mock Trident nuclear Submarine outside the Scottish Parliament today. They are raising awareness of the UK’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to get rid of Trident. There are 17 people inside the submarine locked on including a member of the Scottish Parliament Rosie Kane MSP. They began their protest at 10.15 this morning. A number of MEPs have come outside the parliament building to show their support. There have been no arrests as yet although the protests will not move until their Trident submarine has been dismantled – symbolising the dismantling of the real Trident subs.

The protesters are taking their message to the Scottish parliament because Westminster has refused to listen. On the 10th October 2004 the same submarine was outside Downing Street with protesters locked on. The British Government did not dismantle the submarine, just as it refuses to dismantle Trident. In Scotland 70% of people oppose Trident.

Mell Harrison who is taking part in the protest said,

“We’ve taken Trident to the Scottish Parliament to show how easy it could be to dismantle Trident. We’re staying here till they’ve dismantled the model of Trident, as long as it takes whether that’s days or weeks. Over 70% of Scottish people don’t want Trident so we’re staying here until they show us that they can dismantle Trident. We want the Scottish parliament to put more pressure on Westminster to say this has got to happen. With the NPT review coming up in May we feel that it is extremely important for the nuclear weapon states to disarm, so that other countries won’t feel they have to develop nuclear weapons, because they won’t feel threatened by ours. These weapons are illegal and immoral and we will continue to use direct action until our voices are listened to.”



Rosie Kane MSP (Scottish Socialist Party, Glasgow Region) who is locked on,



“70% of the Scottish public say they are opposed to nuclear weapons. As an elected representative I represent more people sitting on the street than I do sitting in a debating chamber. We’ve raised this issue many times with the Scottish executive. We’ve asked that they speak out in opposition to Trident. We have asked that they take power from Westminster over these weapons of mass destruction but their ears remain closed. The Scottish Socialist Party, the Scottish Green party and the Scottish National Party as well as independents in the parliament are opposed to Nuclear Weapons. We are all united in asking the executive to take action. You can join us on our protests here and in the future. You can ask Westminster to pass power to the Scottish Parliament. We can refuse to have nuclear weapons moved on our roads so their hands are not tied. If they’re not going to do anything then could they explain to the tax payers why we have no money for hospitals, public housing and schools, yet we have money for Weapons of Mass Destruction.”

See BBC News article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4336221.stm