Anti-Nuclear Protesters Arrested at Nevada Test Site

About 250 anti-nuclear protesters were arrested Saturday for trespassing during a large demonstration at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

An estimated 1,600 demonstrators gathered at the highway entrance on the second day of the protest, an event that has been held every spring at the test site for a decade.

The demonstrators were participating in a five-day “Decade to Disarm” protest, sponsored by three peace groups: American Peace Test, the Western Shoshone Council and a Soviet anti-nuclear group called the “Nevada” movement.

The action began Thursday and was timed to coincide with the deployment last week of the Trident II missile from Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in southern Georgia, organizers said. The Trident II is the Navy’s most powerful nuclear weapon.

The protest also was scheduled to coincide with similar demonstrations this weekend in Great Britain, Germany and the Soviet Union, said American Peace Test spokeswoman Katherin Dress.

Energy Department spokesman Derek Scammell said Saturday’s arrest figures were not immediately available. There were 170 arrests Friday, he said. No injuries were reported.

Dress said the protesters held a rally earlier in the day and then began their civil disobedience tactics. At one point, she said, about 100 demonstrators scaled a fence at the test site. The protest will continue through Monday, she said.

Those arrested were transported to the town of Beatty, where they were cited for trespassing and released, Scammell said.

Nevada Highway Patrol Capt. Glenn Jewett said most of the arrests occurred when the demonstrators crossed the cattle guard at the main Mercury entrance and stepped onto the top-secret federal government property that makes up the nation’s nuclear weapons testing grounds.

Jewett said the demonstration was orderly, with no violence reported. “It’s a good crowd,” he said.

However, protesters closed the access road at the test site’s Mercury entrance for more than five hours Saturday when they physically blocked the highway and then built a rock wall across it.

Among the protesters were students from several campuses of the University of California and from various high schools in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Michael Valleo, 18, a student from Brentwood High School, said a recent visit to the Soviet Union persuaded him that the Soviets are as interested in peace as the United States. “We all want peace,” he said

Since 1986, American Peace Test has organized nonviolent protests at the Nevada Test Site. More than 10,000 people have participated and more than 5,000 arrests have been made as a result, Dress said.

An 8 a.m. Mass was scheduled today at the Mercury entrance, followed by a parade of giant puppets, kites and banners. More arrests were expected during activities today and Monday.