Police cut loose anti-war protesters

Protesters have been charged with aggravated trespass

Anti-war campaigners locked inside tanks at a military port have been cut free by police using heavy slicing tools.

Five protesters from Greenpeace had occupied Scorpion tanks at Marchwood near Southampton in protest at possible war with Iraq.

Fourteen campaigners broke into the base on Tuesday morning, some cutting through a fence undetected.

Four chained themselves to the main gates and halted a queue of military vehicles from entering, before being removed by police.

We are here to try to get Tony Blair to listen to what public feeling really is

Rachel Murray, protester

Patrick Nealon, MoD police spokesman, said: "The incursions onto the site were effectively dealt with.

"We used specialist cutting equipment to break the lock-ons."

Some of the protesters had sailed into the base on dinghies launched from the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior.

Greenpeace last week delayed the military supply ship MV Lyra J from sailing from Marchwood for the Gulf when protesters chained themselves to the ship's hull.

Fourteen people have been charged with aggravated trespass and taken to either nearby Lyndhurst or Southampton police stations, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) police.