Having met my friend Barbara Green, whom you reported as "Pensioner protester locked up overnight" (May 25), for tea in a Yorkshire cafe the day before, I write with her message for Strathclyde Police: "Fondest love, and thank you for the complementary B&B." I did detect hints, however, that, as Dr Johnson and Mr Boswell found in the Highlands some 250 years ago, things were still a bit overcrowded and the cuisine left a deal to be desired in respect of Scottish hospitality.

I take issue with the police spokeswoman who justified Barbara Green's 17-hour detention by claiming that she was likely if released to "reoffend". This, of course, begs the question whether sitting on the Faslane access road is, in fact, a "breach of the peace"; surely "obstructing the highway" would be a more plausible charge, especially since the International Criminal Court Act (Scotland) 2001 has built international law into Scottish law. Whereas previously only the genocidal use of an H-bomb missile was contrary to domestic law, this has now been extended to criminalise certain anticipatory acts. So far as I know this new law has yet to be argued before a Scottish court as justifying the roadblock to prevent a major crime. The 719 arrestees in the "Faslane 365" campaign who were released without being charged have effectively been imprisoned without trial.

The police power to hold arrestees overnight exists for the purpose of bringing them to court next day. In England the police have to keep a log book recording the times of the interviews with detainees undertaken to help decide whether they are to be charged. Prolonged detentions require the sanction of a senior police officer. If, as I expect, there are similar rules in Scotland, they are being breached by not genuinely treating every case on its merits with due alacrity. - Frank R McManus OBE JP (retd), Locksley House, 97 Longfield Road, Todmorden.

I refute the argument given by Strathclyde Police for holding me in a prison cell overnight after my arrest outside the Faslane naval base (May 25). The police said there would have been every likelihood of me returning to the site and reoffending if released. If asked, I would have proved that was never my intention. I was arrested on Tuesday, May 15, and had with me my return ticket for Hebden Bridge, clearly marked May 16, and a ticket for King Lear in Stratford-Upon-Avon on May 17. Tickets for Lear are gold dust and I would certainly not have risked not being able to use it.

If I had gone back to Faslane on Wednesday I would never have got to Stratford by Thursday - unthinkable. Besides, the police saw both tickets when they took away my belongings in the police station. Wallets are emptied before your eyes.

The police excuse was so feeble it might be worth noting. - Barbara Green, 32 Smithwell Lane, Heptonstall, Hebdon Bridge.

Although I am unsure whether the ongoing non-violent blockades of the Royal Navy base at Faslane are an effective way of opposing Trident, David R Yule's assumption that the political actions of the private citizen should be limited to voting and other "lawful and democratic means" (May 26) is, in my view, highly dangerous.

Parliamentary democracy is one of the better systems human beings have designed to manage their affairs, but it is very far from perfect. The anti-Trident movement has undertaken various protests, all within the law, before embarking on campaigns of civil disobedience. The government has refused to discuss the concerns raised, including the legality of the nuclear weapon system.

The theoretical basis of civil disobedience is very clear: a government's power is based on the consent of the people it governs, and this consent should be withdrawn whenever a government refuses to listen. The simplest way to do this is deliberately to break the law and suffer the punishment.

The democratic rights we enjoy and, increasingly, take for granted have not been handed down by any government, but demanded by individuals. When past governments refused to enter into discussions they have repeatedly been met with campaigns of civil disobedience which have often proved successful. The next time Mr Yule exercises his right to vote he might like to remember the people who broke the law to win the vote for him. - James Benstead, 69/1 Broughton Street, Edinburgh.