A 77-YEAR-OLD man was among 13 people arrested as anti-nuclear protestors descended on Aldermaston and Burghfield this morning.
Campaigners caused rush-hour delays by blocking roads around the two sties to protest against the renewal of the Trident missile system.
There were nine arrests outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston as campaigners lay in the road to stop workers entering the site.
The protest blocked the A340, though employees continued to file through the site's other entrances, with the jams cleared by 9:30am.
Police said around 60 protestors had turned up from around the country. Most simply held banners at the site’s entrance calling for nuclear disarmament.
At AWE Burghfield four protestors locked themselves together to block the private road leading to the main entrance. Around a dozen people were involved in the protest, including a four-person choir singing protest songs accompanied by a violinist.
Two men aged 77 and 65 and two women aged 62 and 50 were arrested for obstructing the road, though police said other entrances had been used.
Those arrested had come from as far as Essex, London and Wales. They were taken to a mobile custody unit for interviewing.
Organisers said the “Block the Builders” blockade, supported by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares was intended to draw attention to ongoing developments at the two sites, which they believe are to enable a new generation of nuclear missiles.
Protestor Mary Holmes, from the Kingston Peace Council, said: “We want to see a world free from nuclear weapons. We don’t think Britain should be increasing its nuclear weapons, and as part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty Britain has made a promise to get rid of nuclear weapons and work towards that. We think we should be doing that and not increasing them.”

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