Peace blockade a shock for AWE

Beginning at 7am, around 800 protesters from across Europe took part in a range of activities to draw attention to the millions of pounds of public money being wasted at the site.

The Aldermaston plant produces nuclear warheads for the US-made Trident missile system in Scotland.

The action, led by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), saw activists encouraged to show their opposition to nuclear weapons by engaging in peaceful civil disobedience.

Braving the severe cold, campaigners young and old attempted to stop traffic in and out of the plant.

CND president Pat Arrowsmith, 79, was at the action and said that non-violent civil disobedience was still one of the best forms of protest.

"There are all kinds of protest, lobbying Parliament, marching and actions like these. They are all part of non-violent protest," she said.

Sitting on the freezing cold road, joined by Scandinavian protesters, Ms Arrowsmith vowed to stay "until the police remove me."

"I hope instead they will just wait for us to get cold and leave on our own," she joked.

CND declared the day a huge success with all seven gate entrances to Aldermaston AWE being simultaneously blockaded to stop cars gaining entry.

However the campaigners made no attempt to stop workers on foot from going into the plant, handing them leaflets explaining the protest instead.

Despite the enormous police presence, protesters managed to dodge lines of officers, throwing themselves in pairs and threes onto the road, blocking entrance gates.

Reverend Chris Howson, from Bradford, spoke to the Morning Star after throwing himself onto the ground and linking arms with a fellow protester. He insisted he would stay "as long as I can."

Asked why he had performed the athletic lunge, he added: "I saw a brother in need and I could not walk on by."

Police had originally tried to remove protesters forcibly from the entrance, attempting to unbind two activists who had superglued their hands.

After shouts from legal observers objecting to the use of "excessive force" officers eventually gave up on the sit-down protest and retreated inside the factory gates, prompting cheers from the peace camp.

Summing up the day's activity CND chairwoman Kate Hudson said campaigners had given the government a "strong message" that nukes had no place in modern Britain.

In a message to manufacturing workers at the plant, Ms Hudson said that she "did not want to see any redundancies" if political pressure caused Aldermaston to be closed in the future.

"The huge amounts of money used to keep skilled workers making these weapons is crazy, when the same money could be invested to create tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in decommissioning and later on in other sectors," she said.

Thames Valley Police reported that they had made 10 arrests, five for obstructing the highway and five for entering the site.