The Big Blockade: Faslane 365
Report on the culminating
day after the year of blockades of the Faslane base.
Finally we arrived at Anderson Kulvengrave Church hall. We had travelled up on
the National Express, so a cup of tea was very welcome. Next door was buzzing with training sessions,
briefings, and how to do lock-ons. The Salvation Army had also lent their
hall. Food was being served to all
arriving from far and wide – from Iceland, Finland
and Germany as well as from many parts of Britain.
We were put into a group of only 15 – musicians, singers, Buddhists
and Quakers, some veterans, some first-timers.
Training carried on to midnight, then time to catch a
couple of hours sleep on the hall floor.
Four o’clock saw all rising to share breakfast.
Excited, nervous, tired, apprehensive: feelings
were running high. By five am
we were on our allocated coaches and minibuses.
Chris and I were off to the North Gate.
We set off in the dark, cold and fog to meet all the other transport for
Helensburgh to go as a convoy. Quite a sight, 500 – 600
people travelling in all sorts of vehicles.
The police were at the gates in great numbers, but were swamped by
the first wave of lock-ons. By 7.15 South Gate, North
Gate and all the depots were blocked.
Arrests were taking place already, with a steady stream of people being
carried down the hill to the car park (temporary police holding station). Lock-ons (double
metal tubes filled with hardened plastic) were amazing, and defied saw and drills
for up to one and a half hours. Sitting
with the police watching as protestors poured pink paint over themselves and superglued hands and arms together.
By now the sun had risen in a cloudless sky, beautiful but
cold. Squirrels, elephants, clowns,
people on stilts kept all roadways closed.
Wheelchair users braved the saws as they were locked-on to others and
their chairs used as chain-ons.
Four o’clock was the finale with song and dance and a last surge of sit-downs
and arrests. Minibuses returned us to
Glasgow Halls. We heard that 176 were
arrested, and they all had tales to tell.
The minibuses ferried them back to the halls all night as they were
released from the cells. We all met and
exchanged experiences. The big
question: What now? What next?
We decided we must still take actions, we must carry on.
An amazing climax to a year of protest: so pleased we could be part
of it and will continue to be.
Sheila Wright