Activists arrested at Nevada Test Site

About 40 activists protesting the Divine Strake explosives test that is on hold at the Nevada Test Site were arrested Sunday after they crossed onto the test site. Those arrested included two Utah women.

Pete Lipster, Salt Lake City, who is a plaintiff in a suit against the postponed detonation, told the Deseret Morning News that about 200 protesters camped out through the weekend near Nevada 95 to demonstrate against the test. Although the detonation is on indefinite hold, they are skeptical that the federal government won't again try to detonate the 600 tons of fuel oil and ammonium nitrate.

Lipster did not participate in the civil disobedience that resulted in arrests and citations. A hearing on the suit is scheduled for June 8 in Las Vegas, he said.

Lipster said the encampment was dubbed "Peace Camp."

"We were expecting a lot more" than the 200 who attended the protest, he said. Many "ended up not coming to the demonstrations when they discovered that the test had been postponed indefinitely," he added.

Many of the protest leaders are American Indians. The Western Shoshones claim ownership of the land that houses the Nevada Test Site under the Treaty of Ruby Valley, he said.

"There was a real sense that we had been victorious in terms of forcing the government to back down on a very significant weapons test," he said. However, many are suspicious that the government ultimately will try again.

After a rally led by representatives of the Western Shoshones, a group of about 40 people crossed the border to the test site and were arrested. They were taken to two outdoor holding pens surrounded by fences just inside the test site; one was for men, the other for women.

Among those arrested were Deanna Taylor and Eileen McCabe Olsen, both of West Jordan. "It was probably the most empowering experience I've had in at least ten years, an incredible experience," said Olsen. Protestors knew what was going to happen and were prepared for their time in the pens. They brought water bottles and sunblock and looked out for each other, she said. One of the arrested women is 80 and others made sure she was all right, she said. "I was just so moved by the power of the women sitting in a circle in that space that I didn't even notice the sun," Olsen said.

Taylor, a member of the Desert Greens Party of Utah and one of the organizers of the protest, hesitated, then joined the group carrying out the civil disobedience.

"We had all obtained permits from the Western Shoshone, who own the land," she said. The permits gave them permission to be on the land, the group asserted, including the Nevada Test Site.