With the return coaches starting to pick up tired protesters from 3pm for the long journey back to Edinburgh, today's protest climaxed with a DJ set from a pedal powered electric generator, and ceremonial march past by the self-styled Rebel Clown Army.
First up was the "Rinky Dinky" sound system, a sort of portable PA on a tricycle which converted into a electric generator when a volunteer turned the pedals. Beats pumped out and a DJ imporovised raps about the G8 and Gleneagles.
Meanwhile, men and women of the Rebel Clown Army, dressed in Doc Martens, tiaras, tinsel and face paint paraded under the noses of the frontline of police officers in front of Faslane's heavily fortified north gate – but without provoking the police into a response.
CND's official estimate of the total numbers at Faslane – at 2,000 – looks on the high side, but with around 500 demonstrators at the main entrance – the north gate – and smaller numbers at the other three gates, a four-figure attendance looks likely. Not an unimpressive achievement for an event which required a 3.30am or so start for the Edinburgh-based activists who formed the largest contigent of the demo.
As we left there were reports that some protesters were maintaining their sit-down protest outside the oil refinery entrances to the base, but the police tactic of patience and non-provocation seemed to have worked in exhausting protesters without inciting them.
Several of the veteran campaigners against Faslane, however, complained that the large media contigent present today – Sky News, BBC, Press Association, Evening Standard, Associated Press, Le Monde, the Guardian and others – do not pay as much attention to their anti-nuclear protests when the G8 summit is not in town.
