PROTESTERS who descended on AWE Aldermaston left the base yesterday following a four-day campaign.

Around 40 activists set up a "disarmament" camp of peace from June 6 to 9.

Police officers used powers under the Terrorism Act to seize "lock on" equipment, which could have been used by protesters to attach themselves to buildings or machinery.

Thames Valley and Ministry of Defence police monitored the protesters who dotted the perimeter of the base carrying banners and creating string and cotton webs around an exit gate.

Members of Trident Ploughshares, who arranged the protest event to put a "spotlight on Britain's weapons of mass destruction", say that a number of campaigners managed to get over or under perimeter fencing before being ushered away by the police.

Protester Juliet McBride spoke on Sunday from the top of a barbed-wire fence she had been sat on for just under an hour.

She said: "I have chosen to sit here so that they cannot open the gate. What do I hope to achieve by sitting here? Nothing. I am saying I will not be a part of what is going on in there and I will be a witness to what is going on behind the fence."

Protester Sian Jones said: "We leafleted in Tadley at the Treacle Fair and have tried to get people to understand what is going on and that they can object to it.

"We want a public inquiry into whether people want weapons of mass destruction. Maybe people concerned about the war in Iraq should take a look on their own doorstep."

Unlike previous protests, there were no arrests. AWE spokesman Graeme Ham-mond said that the safety and security of staff, the public and the protesters was protected throughout the weekend.