Boat Bashed In Barrow

In the early hours of February 1st, two activists from the Aldermaston Women's Group, part of the Trident Ploughshares 2000 campaign, swam into Barrow Docks, where the navy's fourth Trident submarine, Vengeance, is under construction. The women caused £25000 worth of damage to the sub, forcing a delay in its sailing date.

The women swam undetected for an hour and a half before reaching the sub. They spray painted the conning tower with various slogans such as 'illegal' and 'death machine', before turning their attention to what Vickers are calling 'testing equipment' attached to the conning tower. After smashing it, they hung a banner reading 'Women want Peace'. It was on ly then that security guards cottoned on, but they still had time for a wander round inside the sub, chatting to a worker on the way. Unable to gain entrance to the main part of the sub, they came out again and nonchalantly walked off the sub, leading the open-mouthed 'guards' to the security portakabin.

Two hours after their arrest, three women from the support team were also arrested 'on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage' while they were delivering dry clothes for the swimmers to the police station. All five women were later charged with the damage. Magistrates remanded one of the first two women for a week before releasing her on conditional bail. All of them were given extremely restrictive conditions including curfews, exclusion zones and signing on 3 times a week. All five women are bailed to appear at Barrow courts on 2nd March. Offers of cash support are urgently needed.

Contact: http://www.gn.apc.org/tp2000/