§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the incident which took place at the residence of His Excellency the Governor of Gibraltar on Monday 11 July when a number of Spanish nationals chained themselves to the stonework of the canopy at the entrance to the residence.
§ Mr. WhitneyOn 11 July a group of nine Spanish citizens staged a demonstration in front of the Convent (Government House) against the practice of dumping of low-level radioactive waste at sea. They chained themselves to the Convent pillars, chanted slogans and threw leaflets. They were particularly protesting against the dumping of low-level radioactive waste to be made by Britain this year at an internationally recognised site in the Atlantic trough, some 500 miles south-west of Land's End and 430 miles off the north-west coast of Spain.
The demonstration was ended quickly and peacefully by the Gibraltar police. The demonstrators were arrested and charged with making a disturbance and obstructing the police. On 12 July they were represented in the magistrate's court by a Gibraltar lawyer. They pleaded guilty and were fined £5 each. They have all now left Gibraltar.