Congresbury GP Dr Richard Lawson was held prisoner for 10 hours in a Strathclyde police cell on Friday 6th July for helping to obstruct access to the base of New Labour’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Four members of the Somerset Peace Group lay down in the road with a Tractors not Trident banner, singing a doctored version of the Wurzel's "Drink up thy Cider" song. Mystified Glaswegian police listened to several renditions, presumably trying to decode the message, before gently lifting the four activists and carting them off to the police station.
"The Strathclyde police were 100% professional, real gentlemen and ladies" said 60-year old Dr Lawson. "We explained to them that just as a police car may break the speed limit if chasing a terrorist, so we have a duty of civil disobedience in trying to stop Labour's WMD policy. There would be no problem if there was a 100% cast iron guarantee that Trident will not be fired in anger. The fact of the matter is that the Government is ready and willing to order it to be fired at some point in the future, causing millions of deaths to civilian non-combatants, men, women and children. This is terrorism writ large. There is no other word for it”.
Dr Lawson, who has three children and one grandchild, adds “I challenge any local politician, be they Labour, Tory or LibDem, who thinks Trident renewal is a good idea, to come forward and try to defend their belief in public in open debate. Trident is not independent, is not a deterrent, and is not a reasonable option for any realistic and sensible politician".
Richard Lawson is Joint International Coordinator of the Green Party and Press Officer for North Somerset Green Party.
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