40 years of confrontation and arrests.

PROTESTERS have plagued Faslane for more than 40 years.

Thousands of people from around the world have taken a stand against nuclear arms at the base.

Those taken into police custody since the first nuclear submarines arrived in the 1960s include churchmen, Buddhist monks, politicians and an eight-week-old baby.

Demonstrations have have included sit-down protests, tunneling, break-ins, a permanent peace camp and raids by swimmers.

Other acts of protest have included Strathclyde Regional Council then West Dunbartonshire Council declaring themselves "nuclear free zones".

Faslane was first constructed as a naval base during World War II.

Protests began when it was named as the home of Britain's four-strong Polaris missile submarine fleet.

The base was converted to nuclear capability between 1963 and 1968. It consists of two centres, Faslane on Gare Loch and the Royal Navy Armaments Depot at Coulport on Loch Long.

But it was not until the the arrival of Trident in the early 1980s that prolonged action began. Four subs - Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance - were built to carry the missiles.

A permanent base camp was set up at the gates in 1982. It was the subject of legal eviction bids in the mid-1990s.

An order of Japanese Buddhist monks were arrested there during protests in 2000. Police lifted church ministers there in 2001 and 2002.

In February 2001, MP George Galloway was among more than 300 arrested at a demo.

That October, then SSP leader Tommy Sheridan was arrested and served seven days in jail. His party colleagues Rosie Kane and Carolyn Leckie also did prison time.

The Faslane365 blockade began on October 1 and runs for a year.

CAPTION(S):

LIFTED: Sheridan at the base