ANTI-TRIDENT campaigners today vowed to continue their fight against nuclear weapons after 45 people were arrested at Faslane Naval Base.

As reported in late editions of yesterday's Evening Times, around 250 protesters blockaded the main entrance of the base, home to the UK's Trident nuclear weapons, lying on the ground in front of the main gate.

Police Scotland arrested 29 women and 16 men for breaches of the peace yesterday morning.

A spokeswoman added that all 45 people – the figure was originally understood to have been 47 – will be reported to the procurator fiscal.

The Scrap Trident coalition, which campaigns for Scotland to be free of nuclear weapons, and its supporters demonstrated outside the Clyde base.

Both the south and the north gates were blocked by protesters from campaign groups and political parties from 7am until 10am.

At the secure north gate, around a dozen people lay on the ground covered with banners and attached to each other with plastic piping in protest at the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system.

One shouted "They say warfare" and the chorus replied "We say welfare".

Dozens of officers surrounded the protesters and formed a line in front of the gates.

They used specialist cutting equipment to cut through the plastic piping and separate the protesters from each other before carrying them to waiting police vans.

The crowds, who were shepherded to the sides by police, cheered, chanted and sang in support of the activists who lay on the ground.

The blockade followed a weekend of protest – including a rally in Glasgow's George Square – which saw thousands of anti-nuclear campaigners call on the UK Government to scrap Trident and use its budget to fund welfare, education and health instead.

More than 100 protests took place in dozens of countries at the weekend for a Global Day of Action on Military Spending.

Leonna O'Neill has lived at the Faslane Peace Camp, around a mile from the base, for the past two-and-a-half years.

The 27-year-old, one of the organisers of the blockade, said: "It is about solidifying the verbal message by putting words into action and saying 'We will stop this' and 'We will take action against this'."

Disability rights campaigners, students, pensioners, international campaigners and environmentalists were among the protesters.

They tied banners to the 10ft high fences, displaying anti-nuclear weapons slogans such as 'Break the nuclear chains'.

Organisers the Scrap Trident Coalition said 30 people blocked the main gate with 20 'locked on', while eight were 'locked on' at the South Gate.

They claimed those arrested ranged in age from 19 to 83 and came from across Scotland, Wales and England.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie, who was there to support the rally, said: "After many years, decades even, of campaigning against nuclear weapons I think people are excited about being on the verge of eventually doing something about it.

"If Scotland votes to take control of its own defence policy we will finally be able to consign Trident to history."

matty.sutton@eveningtimes.co.uk