Trident demo halts parliament sitting

Demonstrators zip-tied themselves to the public gallery

Anti-trident demonstrators have disrupted a sitting of the Scottish Parliament.

About 15 protesters chanted and sang as First Minister's Questions - led by Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace - got underway.

They tied themselves to the railings in the public gallery with plastic ties.

The presiding officer, Sir David Steel suspended the sitting for about 15 minutes to allow security staff to clear the protesters from the chamber.

The demonstrators - most of whom were women - unfurled banners, shouted and sung out protests and threw pieces of paper down onto the ranks of MSPs below.

Margo MacDonald joined the protest

A number of protesters were bundled into a waiting police van outside the Scottish Parliament.

One shouted: "Trident is illegal, it kills - get rid of Trident."

SNP MSP Margo MacDonald joined the protesters in the public gallery where they started singing.

It took four people to carry the last female protester out the chamber.

When proceedings restarted Sir David said he would extend Question Time to make up for lost time.

He added that it was important to review what happened and report back to the Parliament after the Easter recess.

Trident Ploughshares group protester Ellen Moxley, 66, who described herself as an observer to the protest, was not arrested.

'Perverse'

She said: "The aim of today was to highlight in our own people's parliament the fact that we have genocidal nuclear weapons on Scottish soil and that we are not able to debate it because it is a reserved issue.

"This is extremely important because 51% of people in Scotland don't want Trident submarines in Scotland."

She said the decision for the protest was taken after last week's "perverse" judgement at the High Court which found that nuclear weapons were not illegal.

Lothian and Borders Police said 11 people had been arrested for breach or the peace and a report was being sent to the procurator fiscal.

Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan praised the protesters, saying: "These peace campaigners acted with dignity and deserve the support of MSPs for bringing the whole issue of Trident and the need for disarmament into the Chamber."