40 Arrested at Livermore Weapons Lab Protest

Another Good Friday, another "peaceful" mass arrest in protest of nuclear power.

About 40 aging and graying opponents of nuclear war were taken into custody at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory on Friday, for the 30th consecutive year.

The Contra Costa Times reports that 115 protesters gathered at the weapons lab's gates at 8:30 a.m. for speeches and a demonstration that culminating in a symbolic blocking of the facility's gates.

Heavily-armed security guards in kevlar vests and riot gear toting clubs took any peace activist who desired to be arrested into custody, the newspaper reported.

A spokesman for the lab offered high praise for law enforcement's handling of the threat.

Some clergy, including a nun, were arrested, cited, and released at the protest, which is organized by the Ecumenical Peace Institute of Berkeley and the Livermore Conversion Project in Oakland, the newspaper reported.

The lab was back up and running within two hours.