Eleven people were arrested during a blockade of Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant on February 14. Over 150 Irish demonstrators blockaded the roads to the plant for nearly five hours.

The group included people who had spent the previous three days blockading Trident nuclear submarine base in Faslane, Scotland. (report from day 2; day 3)

The protest began at 6am, it was split in two as Sellafield has two main access roads and a blockade began in each of these areas. At the first access point six demonstrators chained themselves across the road in a snake formation. When the police arrived they were largely outnumbered and the specially trained protest unit "SGI" was not available. They pushed peaceful protesters with excessive force and kicked and threatened people in the lock-on. By 7.30am the blockade had created tailbacks of six or seven miles. The protest lasted until noon. Those arrested were released by 6pm under caution - none were charged.

Sellafield Blockade: why it happened.

Audio Interviews with Sellafield protestors.

80 Irish activists blocked the main entrance to Sellafield nuclear power plant on the first day of MOX operation, delaying the transit of trucks carrying the highly radioactive nuclear waste product, plutonium. Despite heavy police presence no arrests were made. MOX was given the go ahead by BNFL safety inspectors while the UK government sought to bury the MOX news under blanket media war coverage. The blockade comes in the wake of a BNFL-confirmed fuel rod handling accident in Chapelcross reactor earlier in the year.
See full report of the december 20th blockade, and an earlier protest in November.

Meanwhile Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace were absent due to their taking the UK government to the High court. The Irish government also served legal documents on the UK government, claiming they have contravened the UN Law of the Sea. In Norway people and government alike have called for decommissioning and placed a sculpture on the beach overlooking the discharge pipe - see photo.

Sign the online petition to close Sellafield.

What is MOX? see Greenpeace's detailed analysis of the Nuclear industry

Download .mpg videos of the December 20th blockade

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Over 100 peaceful protestors, including Irish Green MEP Patricia McKenna, have been arrested at the Trident Nuclear Submarine base in Faslane, Scotland. The protest was organised by Trident Ploughshares and Scottish CND and involved an estimated 2,000 people.

Today's action follows several previous protests at the Faslane base. Activists say that the base is illegal. There is also concern that nuclear submarines from Faslane may be used in the ongoing American and British attacks on Afghanistan.

However police were far quicker to act against the protestors in today's action than in previous actions. Over 100 people chained themselves to 3 seperate gates of the base at 7am to prevent morning shift workers from entering. Protestors were chained together with the chains encased in metal pipes, making them more difficult to cut. However police moved in shortly afterwards and began cutting them away, injuring several protestors in the process. In previous protests police have waited several hors before acting.

Today's rapid repression of the protest by police follows a recent pattern in Ireland where over 20 peaceful demonstrators have been arrested at three seperate protests during the past month. Today's Faslane protest included over a hundred Irish people of whom at least 13 have been arrested, including Green MEP Patricia McKenna. New regulations introduced by Scottish police mean that those without UK residence will be detained longer than UK residents.

Over 100 activists from around Ireland today marched on the Raytheon facility in Derry at which the guidence software for the US Tomahawk Cruise missliles currently being used against Afganistan is developed. The protest, co-ordinated by the Foyne Ethical Investment Campaign, was intended to draw attention to the work being carried out at this facility. later the protestors marched through Derry city centre to the office of Derry City Council and to the office of John Hume, Noble Peace Prize winner.

The anti-war protests were part of a 2-bus protest 'tour' culminating at the Trident Nuclear Submarine base in Faslane, Scotland where the Irish activists will join over 1,000 protestors from all over Britian in an attempt to close the base for a day. En route the activists also made a brief solidarity stop at the holy cross school in the Ardoyne, Belfast where school children have recently been the subject of a vicious sectarian hate campaign.

A European Public Private Partnership (PPP) meeting in Dublin's Burlington Hotel ended with 16 arrests and reports of police violence. Over 300 protesters stormed the lobby of the hotel in which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was hosting a conference to discuss ways of selling off national assets.

Irish Indymedia Videographer Rowan D was arrested and charged with 2 offences against the Criminal Justice Act...

Most worrying, Rowan's camera and tape were taken and not returned. Rowan is the second Irish Indymedia Cameraman arrested in the last 3 weeks (wolfe was arrested while filming a Reclaim The Streets demo - trial date 6 March 2002). This is a very worrying trend, is it a new police policy? The 16 people arrested were taken to Pearse St., Donnybrook and Irishtown Garda Stations and charged with a variety of offences.