Scottish police said today they had arrested 83 people from among hundreds of demonstrators staging a peaceful anti-nuclear protest outside Britain's Trident nuclear submarine base.
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Organisers of the three-day protest aimed at shutting down the Faslane naval base near Glasgow said Scottish Socialist leader Mr Tommy Sheridan was among those detained.
Police said the arrests had been for minor offences such as breach of the peace and that between 350 and 400 demonstrators had gathered outside the naval base on Scotland's west coast.
Mr Sheridan was arrested after taking part in the sit-down protest outside the base. The politician linked arms with nine other protesters for around 30 minutes before he was taken away by four police officers.
He said: "What I am doing is not a crime. What is a crime are the weapons of mass destruction behind those gates."
The Rev Alan Macdonald, convenor of the Church and Nation Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, today said around 30 ministers and priests were taking part in the protest.
He said: "These nuclear weapons have no place in society and there is no justification for them now, whatsoever, given that the Cold War is over."
Organisers said they expected some 5,000 people to blockade the base on the River Clyde, home to Britain's four Trident submarines and the scene of regular anti-nuclear demonstrations.
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