They were released without charge on Monday after their blockade of the gates of the base on the Clyde, where the UK's Trident nuclear submarine fleet is based.

The arrests took place at 3.50pm on Sunday after Assynt Peace Group members spent the afternoon outside the base, ceilidh dancing, singing, reciting poetry and peacefully protesting at the presence of nuclear weapons in Scotland. The eightsome danced over to the gates of the base and lay down, blocking the road. They spent a night in police cells and were released on Monday without charge, but having received a letter from the procurator fiscal warning them not to repeat their action.

Those arrested from Assynt were Angus John McEwan, Anna Mackay, Andy Sanders, Marianne Hutchison, Catriona MacDonald, Jane Smith and Ellen Moxley. The doctor, a consultant at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, was Simon Evans.

Assynt Peace Group protesters at Faslane: fiddler Simon Evans with (clockwise from front) Ellen Moxley, Angus John McEwan, Marianne Hutchison, Catriona MacDonald, Andy Sanders, Anna Mackay and Jane Smith.

Anna Mackay, school teacher at Stoer Primary School, said their night in the cells had been unpleasant. "But I would be willing to go through it again in order to get the message across that nuclear warheads are a terrible thing and for Britain to have them is very wrong."

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