MEP jailed after nuclear base protest

Date: 25/10/01

By Martin Banks

Patricia McKenna was among 150 people arrested during a protest at a nuclear base in Scotland.

The Irish MEP had chained herself to other demonstrators outside the entrance to the Faslane naval base in Helensburg.

McKenna was taken to a nearby police station where she spent seven hours in a cell before being released.

She was charged with breach of the peace and resisting arrest and bailed to appear in court at a later date. The protest, on 22 October, was organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Scotland. "I was there to protest in peace and could not understand why so many of us were arrested," she said. She accused UK Premier Tony Blair of "double standards" in continuing to advocate a nuclear deterrent.