Activists raid US nuclear base with 'baby bottles of their own blood'

Catholic peace activists were “carrying hammers and baby bottles of their own blood” when they stormed a US Navy base in the US state of Georgia.

The seven protesters were detained after entering the secure Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, a statement from fellow protesters said. “They also brought an indictment charging the US government for crimes against peace,” the statement indicated. The aim of their action was to "convert weapons of mass destruction" into tools of pacifism.

Kings Bay Spokesperson Scott Bassett told the Washington Post that the anti-nuclear weapons group, who called themselves the Kings Bay Plowshares, smeared red paint on signs and buildings on the base after entering without authorisation. They have been turned over to local police.

Paul Magno, who represented the protesters, told the News and Observer that his group had been charged with two misdemeanours - trespassing and possession of tools for criminal intent - and one felony, interference with US government property.

Mr Bassett said the seven protesters did not threaten anyone, no military personnel or equipment was in danger, and no injuries have been reported as a result of what the protesters did. However, at least some of the protesters did make it into nuclear weapons storage bunkers, according to the newspaper.

The submarine base is the home to 9,000 personnel and eight submarines, nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines. These submarines are routinely deployed for several months at a time.

The US Navy said the “ballistic missile submarines, often referred to as ‘boomers,’ serve as an undetectable launch platform for intercontinental missiles. They are designed specifically for stealth and the precise delivery of nuclear warheads”.

The protest was planned to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s death; one banner the group was carrying read: "The ultimate logic of racism is genocide, Dr. Martin Luther King”.

Mary Rider, the wife of one of one of the arrested protesters, told the newspaper that “chose to enter the base on the anniversary of King's death to highlight the disparity in resources going to nuclear weapons instead of to the war on racism that persists since the civil rights leader's death”.

Ms Rider and her husband Patrick O’Neill co-founded Fr Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House in Garner, North Carolina, described "an intentional pacifist, Christian community that offers hospitality to people in crisis”.