08/08/2006

More protesters board plane at Prestwick

Five more protesters have been arrested at Prestwick airport after boarding an aircraft in the third security breach at the airport in three days.

The Trident Ploughshare group said that the group of activists managed to gain access to a USAF Air National Guard plane and examined documentation and manuals, before moving on to attempt to examine another aircraft.

The group named the five activists as Richard McKean, Joe McLoughlin and Pippa Robertson, all from Scotland, Ludwig Appeltans from Belgium and Anna-Linnea Rundberg from the Aland Islands in Finland.

Eight activists were arrested at Prestwick airport in the early hours of Monday morning and another four activists were arrested at the airport in the early hours of Sunday.

The protests were over US military flights, transporting bombs to Israel, stopping at UK airports for refuelling.

In July, US President George W. Bush apologised for failing to ask for permission from the government for a plane carrying bombs to Israel to land at Prestwick airport.

It was also reported last week that US military flights transporting bombs to Israel would no longer stop at civilian airports in the UK to refuel.

(KMcA/SP)

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