POLICE yesterday arrested 37 anti-nuclear protesters during a demonstration at a Royal Navy submarine base on the Clyde.

The officers moved in after a group of around 50 campaigners from the Ploughshares 2000 peace group carried out a mass action at Faslane.

The activists tried to cut their way through security fences surrounding the base, which is home to Britain's fleet of Trident missile submarines.

Others tried to block the main gate by lying across it, locking on to each other with their arms covered by drainpipes.

Nineteen of the arrests were made by Strathclyde Police for breaches of the peace and malicious mischief offences while the others were made by Ministry of Defence officers.