With thanks to Wave Maker for the image

The thing nobody tells you about being arrested is just how boring it is. Not just need-a-good-book boring; after the adrenaline rollercoaster of a 14-hour blockade, the protracted thumb-twiddling of detention is mind-achingly, eye-bleedingly, soul-crushingly boring.

Friday was adrenaline-fuelled, from the moment our eyes snapped open early that morning. The inflatable boats are in the water! Whoosh (that’s the sound adrenaline makes…) Police! Whoosh. Boat chases! Canoes! Arrests! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

There was a brief respite in the afternoon, when, somehow, sitting on an ice-breaker blockading a nuclear submarine started to seem like the most natural thing in the world to be doing, and it felt like we’d been doing it forever. I took a quick walk around the ship, and day to day life was in full swing. Patricio, our cook, was kneading dough. A deckhand was sorting out his laundry. Somebody was mopping a toilet…

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Posted by rebecca at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The 28 people arrested following the raid of the Arctic Sunrise have all been released on condition of reporting to the authorities at some point in the future.

The Captain has also been released on bail and we expect that the ship will be released at some point today.

Posted by tracy at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

The following motion on Greenpeace was lodged in the Scottish Parliament:

That the Parliament congratulates Greenpeace on its recent blockade of a Trident nuclear submarine at its base at Faslane; considers that Tony Blair is pushing through the replacement of Trident, an immoral, illegal and unnecessary weapon, against the wishes of the majority of the British people; acknowledges that its replacement will pose a threat to the security of the world, both by the possibility of it being used and by encouraging other countries to maintain or develop their own nuclear weapons, and calls on the Scottish Executive to stand up for the people of Scotland and the world and put pressure on Tony Blair to scrap the Trident replacement.

Posted by tracy at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise impounded at the Faslane Naval Base in the Gareloch following the arrest of it's crew after an action a blockade of the base.

This is a common saying on ships, and on actions. And over the last couple of
days being on land during the Faslane naval base blockade, I am
truly understanding its meaning.

On Friday the 29 people onboard the Arctic Sunrise were arrested. Standing
on a bank opposite with a load of press photographers and a video camera,
I watched and filmed the tugboats close in on the Sunrise, it was not an
easy process for them. The MOD started with two boats, then three and finally
four tugboats, and 20 military police boarded and occupied the boat.

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Posted by Joss at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Listen to the podcast update from our campaigners onboard about when happened during the boarding.

Posted by tracy at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Check out all the adrenalin packed action from today’s blockade. Hope you like our new inflatable cam as much as we do – so cool.

Posted by tracy at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Wow. Well it’s now 2.50pm and around seven hours after we set sail. We are still here, right up against the pontoons that surround the Faslane nuclear weapons base – and just some 150 metres away a Trident submarine is sitting there… I keep staring at it… It’s a large beast but it’s still weird to think that something of that size can carry enough nuclear missiles to wipe out hundreds of thousand of people at the touch of a button…

It’s been a mad old morning. As we left Greenock and steamed towards the base - even though I have total faith in our crew onboard - I thought, “there’s no way we are going to be able to blockade that base”. We’ve been sitting around the corner in Greenock for days, on a Greenpeace ship with NO NEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS written down the side, so I was guessing the base would be more than prepared for us. But no, for ages just one police launch and one police inflatable (with one man onboard) was all we encountered. They must have been on a coffee break.

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Posted by rebecca at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Greenpeace campaigner Frank speaks from the bridge of the Arctic Sunrise about the day's activities at the nuclear missile submarine base in Scotland.

Posted by tracy at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Writing from the Arctic Sunrise as it blockades Faslane, in protest against the government's plans to build new nuclear weapons.

Speedboats, inflatables, tugs, police boats – there's been mayhem in the Gareloch as volunteers scrambled to get to the pontoon that protects the Trident submarine. One person managed; he held up a banner from the pontoon reading NO NEW NUKES before being arrested.

Sixteen people have been arrested so far. All of our boats are now out of the water and the ship Arctic Sunrise is the only one left. We're still near the entrance to Faslane, and the waters around us are full of police and defence police vessels. You name it, they're out there. We’re being told that, if we come too close to the submarine, the ship will be boarded and taken.

More updates soon.

Posted by rebecca at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I’m sitting on the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. We have a flotilla of smaller Greenpeace inflatable boats at our bow – six inflatables and some canoes - and are steaming towards Faslane nuclear weapons base to blockade it.

Right now, we’re trying to manoeuvre ourselves into position, diving between military police boats and inflatables. We want to blockade Faslane until tomorrow, when Labour MPs are coming up here for a jolly on one of the submarines.

The MPs will be voting on whether to replace Trident in March, and we’re here to tell them that Trident is illegal, immoral and unwanted - £76 billion worth of posturing by a government that wants to flaunt its muscle on the international stage. The move to replace the UK’s nuclear arsenal would be a dangerous departure from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a provocation that may kick-start a new global arms race, and a monstrous distraction from the real threat to the UK and every other place on earth: climate change.

I’ll keep posting updates on this blog as I get the chance, and please don’t forget to take action.

Posted by rebecca at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Nick, on the Trident: we don't buy it tour.

There I was, thinking that I'm a world class photographer, making award winning pictures of environmental destruction. The drama of melting ice bergs, the excitement of the high seas. About time then, that someone brought me down to earth. Trident, they said, a ship... the majesty of the ocean... Of course I snapped it up.

Thinking it would be whizzing around in boats, sitting down with old friends after washing off the day's salt spray, I race to Edinburgh docks. Unloading my equipment to walk up the gang-way, the press officer ushers me over. "Look, isn't she lovely?" he says. Aware of the Greenpeace ship's beauty, I nod in agreement. But he is admiring a big blue advert, bolted in a triangular structure to a white van, parked on the quayside. "Is the Scottish voice reaching Westminster?" it asks, before revealing that "70% of people in Scotland say no to Trident". "There she is" he says proudly, "you've got the ad-van gig!".

My brief is to follow this strange little van across Scotland for five days, just like a road movie, but without a big star. Use my photographic skills to make this strange little articulated mini-truck, into a legend in Scotland. Facing this job will mean overcoming boredom and prejudice against inanimate vehicles. It is Valentines Day and I am spending it learning to love an ad-van. An ugly truckling.

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Posted by MY Arctic Sunrise at 10:32 AM | Permalink

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

The Reverend Ainslie Walton, a retired cleric from Pollokshields, Glasgow, casts a floral peace symbol into the waters outside Faslane nuclear weapons submarine base © Greenpeace/Cobbing

We left the Isle of Arran in calm waters and an early morning light. By late morning on Sunday, we'd arrived at Greenock, near Glasgow.

This is Trident territory; we're just a stone’s throw away from the nuclear submarines base at Faslane, and the warheads depot at Coulport. So on Monday, the Arctic Sunrise set off to bear witness at Faslane, carrying a colourful cargo of crew, staff, clerics, MSPs and peace camp activists.

As the ship wove through islets in the mist, people milled on deck talking - Dutch deckhand to MSP, Canadian first mate to Church of Scotland minister. Listening to Jane Tallents from Faslane 365, Reverend David McLachlan and others talk about their histories of involvement in the campaign (see the videos at the end of this post), my sense of awe at the diversity and the passion of the people working to end this obscenity grew. I felt incredibly privileged to be on this ship, working on this campaign, and lending some support to the amazing work others have been doing day after day, year after year.

I was on the bow when we were first able to make out Faslane through the mist. There it was: a black Vanguard submarine, the UK’s most devastating killing machine. That vessel carries 16 missiles, each carrying up to three nuclear warheads. That’s up to 48 warheads, and each one of them delivers a blast eight times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb... Today (and every other day since the cold war), somewhere in the world, an identical submarine is on patrol, with its nuclear weapons primed to fire.

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Posted by rebecca at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

By Jo, onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

I'm Jo, the ship's part time assistant cook, part time press officer - that is one of the great things about working for Greenpeace, a certain degree of job flexibility. Of course there's also being passionate about your job, working with people who share your beliefs, being part of campaigns which achieve real change, but I'll have to save those for another time!

I've sailed twice before with Greenpeace, once as an assistant cook, and once as a press officer so I feel this combination is a perfect mix of my skills. The idea was not to actually be doing both at the same time, but yesterday I had my first lesson in juggling both - it was fun, even if my press release was a bit floury.

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Posted by MY Arctic Sunrise at 4:55 PM | Permalink

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

The bridge of the Arctic Sunrise
© Greenpeace/Sumner

The open boat day in Edinburgh was a brilliant success, so we're having another one - this time in Greenock, near Glasgow (map). For a guided tour around a working Greenpeace ship, come along to Custom House Quays at Greenock Docks between 11am and 4pm on Sunday 25th February - hope to see you there!

Posted by rebecca at 3:05 PM | Permalink

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

Tessie, a volunteer on board the Arctic Sunrise, looks over the Isle of Arran.

I never thought I'd be so pleased to be woken up at 7.30 on a Saturday morning to go and clean some toilets. I've spent the past 36 hours greenly clinging to my bunk, plastic bag in hand, as the ship was tossed about by a force 10 gale. But this morning, I managed to get out of my bunk without being catapaulted to the other side of the cabin, and came up on deck to see calm waters and a strong winter sun, instead of the hostile broth of a sea we've become used to.

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Posted by rebecca at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

By Sarah, onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

"7.30am - time to get up!"

I open my eyes to total darkness and there is the usual momentary confusion. Bex and I are sleeping in a small cabin deep in the cavernous depths of the hold. There is no natural light and the darkness is comforting at night, like a favourite blanket, wrapping itself protectively around you, but disorientating in the morning, as you don't know what time it is. I can't remember what day it is and what I am supposed to be doing.

Opening the door of my cabin on to the hold of the ship brings it all back in a rush. Already, people are walking around purposefully, setting out tables and chairs and putting out leaflets.

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Posted by MY Arctic Sunrise at 12:18 PM | Permalink

It's been a good day here in the office. Several months ago, we launched a legal case against the government's flawed energy review which backed a new generation of nuclear power stations. The case we brought to challenge that decision was upheld by Mr Justice Sullivan in the High Court who stated that "something has gone clearly and radically wrong" with the process. As a result, the government's decision has been ruled unlawful and they have to go back to the drawing board.

It's a massive blow to the government's plans and, as a result, a new and fuller review will have to be conducted if they want to justify their continued support of nuclear power. Hurrah. Read the full story while we nip off to the pub for a drink.

Posted by Jamie at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

It’s setting sail day on board the Arctic Sunrise; in a few hours, we’ll be leaving Edinburgh to make our way around the Scottish coast to Greenock, outside Glasgow.

It will be interesting to talk to people in Glasgow about Blair's plan to replace Trident - in Edinburgh, it's been striking to see how much people hate the idea, and how out of touch Blair and his cronies have become. Yesterday, we even had somebody from the Royal Navy sign our petition against replacing the submarines!

While we're sailing around the Scottish coastline, you can help to stop Blair from perpetuating the UK’s ability to kill people in the most brutally indiscriminate way ever invented - and starting a new arms race. He wants to spend £4,500 of each British family’s money to do this, and MPs have until March to decide which way they’re going to vote.

It’s really, really important to make sure your MP votes with their conscience, not with their political masters. MPs are making up their minds now – please write to yours and let tell them to vote against a new nuclear bomb and a new arms race. Ask them not to jeopardise (and contravene) the international agreements that have already got rid of half the world’s nuclear weapons.

Right now, Michael Matherson (SNP), Chris Ballance (Green), John Mayer and the legendary Angie Zelter are making their way to the ship to present a consultation to our Captain before we leave - more about that shortly...

Posted by rebecca at 8:44 AM | Permalink

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

MSPs with John Sauven, Greenpeace's Executive Director, and the van of shame (and name). © Greenpeace/Cobbing

I'm a volunteer on board our ship, the Arctic Sunrise, which today joined the mounting resistance to the government's plans for new nuclear weapons. For over twenty years, there's been a permanent protest camp outside Faslane - the homeport to Trident. That base has also been the site of regular direct actions by Trident Ploughshares activists.

In the past few years, I joined the hundreds who have been arrested numerous times there; lying in the gateways and swimming in front of subs, trying to highlight Britain's flagrant breaches of international law. In recent months Trident Ploughshares has been joined by an audacious project of civil disobedience, Faslane 365, which is holding blockades and demonstrations at the base every single day for a year! With our ship, we've come to up the ante further.

Twenty-seven Scottish Labour MPs either support new nukes, or haven't said how they'll vote when the issue comes before parliament in just a few weeks time. It's time we made them listen to the overwhelming opposition from the people they're supposed to represent. People don't want billions spent on unnecessary and dangerous bombs, especially when funds are so urgently needed to tackle climate change.

As the Sunrise sets sail for Greenock, and then London, in time for the crucial vote in Westminster, I'll be with a van carrying a billboard that names and shames those 27 Labour MPs. We'll tour their constituencies and let the voters know what's being done in their names.

Today, Alistair Darling. Tomorrow..?

Posted by JossG at 2:44 PM | Permalink

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise as part of the Trident: We don't buy it tour.

The unveiling of the van. © Greenpeace/Cobbing

Politicians, press, cameras - it's been a busy day aboard the Arctic Sunrise. Four Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) welcomed the Arctic Sunrise into Leith, and launched our new ship tour: "Trident: we don't buy it".

More than 40 years after the UK government signed an international treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons, Tony Blair's planning to reverse all that, and rush through plans to build new weapons - a replacement for Trident. Labour's plans aren't going down well in Scotland - three out of four Scottish people oppose wasting some £76 billion on Trident.

Listen to what our visiting MSPs - from the Liberal Democrat, Scottish National, Green and Scottish Socialist parties - have to say:

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Posted by rebecca at 1:40 PM | Permalink

Onboard the Arctic Sunrise.

The Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise is in Edinburgh, and she’s thrown open her doors to the public for the day. It’s a drizzly grey day but hundreds of people have donned their waterproofs and come down to Leith docks to have a look around the ship and have a cuppa with the crew.

I'd definitely recommend looking around a Greenpeace ship if you ever get the chance – I haven't been on many ships but there really does seem to be a special atmosphere about this one. But then the Arctic Sunrise has a pretty special history - from its beginnings as a commercial seal hunting vessel, it's gone on to better things, including taking action to stop US Star Wars missile tests, protesting against clear cutting in the Amazon and documenting climate change in the polar regions.

I only arrived on the ship last night and it’s going to be my home for the next five weeks (I'm the onboard web editor) so I’m off to join one of the tours now. At the moment, I don’t know my mess from my poop deck, and I still haven't worked out whether the crew were joking when they told me that wearing a potato around my neck would stop seasickness...

Anyway, if you read this in time and if you’re in Edinburgh, come along – just turn up at Leith docks’ customer service point before 3.30pm and a Greenpeace volunteer will show you to the ship.

Oh, and watch this space - the Arctic Sunrise is about to embark on a new tour - five weeks around the UK, campaigning against the replacement of the UK’s nuclear weapons programme, Trident. I'll be posting regular updates from the ship as the tour gets underway...

Posted by rebecca at 10:56 AM | Permalink

The world's leading climate scientists released their latest report today that says even the oil barrons can't deny it any more, the climate is a changin and it's human made.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report says that continuing business-as-usual practices is likely to lead to more droughts, heatwaves, floods and stronger hurricanes, rapid melting of ice-sheets and rapidly rising sea levels.

And while the science has been obvious for a while, they say the window for action is narrowing fast and we must start bring emissions down rapidly by 2020 if we want to avoid climate catastophe.

And what's Blair been up to while our window shrinks? He's opening the door for a new generation of coal fired power plants that will still be pumping out greenhouse gases in 50 years time.

This morning Greenpeace volunteers put the responsibility at his environment depatment's doorstep for utterly failing to take action on climate change.

Posted by tracy at 12:05 PM | Permalink