{news} Green MEP arrested at anti-nuclear demo

[Justine McCabe]

> NEWS RELEASE
> >From the office of the South-East England’s Green MEP Caroline Lucas
> January 8th, 2007 
> LEADING MEP IN POLICE CUSTODY AFTER ARREST AT ANTI-NUCLEAR DEMO
>
> GREEN Party Euro-MP Caroline Lucas is in police custody today after she 
> was
> arrested this morning during a peaceful demonstration against the UK’s
> Trident nuclear weapons arsenal.
>
> She was arrested and charged shortly after 10am this morning for breaching
> the peace when she was sitting in the road blocking the entrance to the
> Trident nuclear submarine base at Faslane, Scotland.
>
> “The irony is extraordinary,” she said shortly after her arrest. “I have
> been arrested for breaching the peace when I am peacefully trying to draw
> attention to the immoral, illegal and counterproductive breach of the 
> peace
> which is Britain’s Trident nuclear weapons system.
>
> “What’s more likely to cause a breach of the peace – sitting down in a 
> road
> or stockpiling 200 nuclear warheads, each which a destructive capacity 18
> times greater than the bomb which killed 200,000 in Hiroshima?”
>
> Dr Lucas was taking part in a day of action alongside some 60 MPs, MEPs 
> and
> councillors – from a range of green and left-leading political parties – 
> as
> part of Faslane 365, a one year continuous peaceful demonstration against
> Britain’s arsenal of nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
>
> Dr Lucas, who is a co-founder and Co-President of the European Parliament’s
> cross-party peace initiatives group of MEPs and a member of the Campaign 
> for
> Nuclear Disarmament’s decision-making National Council, said:
>
> “Britain’s Trident nuclear warheads are deadly weapons of mass destruction
> which cost billions and are completely irrelevant to global geo-politics
> today.”
>
> “Elected politicians from a wide range of parties joined hands today  to
> blockade the Trident nuclear submarine base to show our collective
> opposition to this nuclear folly - and the Labour Government’s unlawful
> plans to replace and upgrade it,” she added.
>
> Dr Lucas has been arrested at Faslane before: following a peaceful 
> sit-down
> outside the base in 2001 she was also charged with breaching the peace.
> Despite arguing that she intended exactly the opposite – to prevent a 
> breach
> of the peace and a greater crime taking place – she was convicted. An
> eventual appeal to the European Court of Human Rights was declared
> inadmissible in 2003.
>
> “Last month Tony Blair said he wanted to replace Britain’s nuclear arsenal
> but, in the face of strong parliamentary and public opposition, reduce it
> from 200 warheads to about 160: 1,280 times as much destructive power as 
> the
> bomb dropped on Hiroshima rather than 1,600. This symbolic gesture will, 
> of
> course, make little practical difference at all.”
>
> “There is simply no legal, moral, military or economic case for the
> Government to replace Trident. If the Government has billions to spend on
> protecting security, it shouldn’t gamble it on chasing Cold War shadows 
> but
> listen to its own advisors and instead use the cash to tackle the real
> security threats we face today: terrorism and climate change.”
>
> ENDS
>
> Notes to Editors:
>
> 1. Further details of the Faslane 365 demo can be found at: 
> http://www.faslane365.org/
> 2. A full list of elected representatives taking part can be found 
> at:http://www.faslane365.org/elected_representatives
> 3. For file pictures (including Dr Lucas’s 2001 arrest) and interviews 
> with Dr Lucas contact Ben on either number below.
>
> For more information please contact Ben on 01273 671946, 07973 823358 or 
> ben at greenmeps.org.uk
> www.carolinelucasmep.org.uk
>
> Ben Duncan
> Media Officer to Caroline Lucas MEP
> benduncan at greenmeps.org.uk
> 01273 671946 (office)
> 07973 823358 (mobile)
>
>
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