MERCURY, Nev. — Nearly 1,000 anti-nuclear protesters were arrested on misdemeanor trespass charges at the nation's nuclear testing grounds Saturday.
Energy Department spokesman Jim Boyer said 992 demonstrators had been arrested as of late afternoon and protesters promised more arrests later in the evening.
Boyer estimated that 1,500 people turned out Saturday for the ninth day of the annual "Reclaim the Test Site" protest at the Nevada Test Site. The event ends today.
Those arrested were taken to the Nye County sheriff's office in Beatty, 55 miles away, where they were to be released after being cited on the misdemeanor charge, Boyer said.
Nye County officials announced earlier this month that they would no longer prosecute the trespassers because of the growing number of protests and arrests at the remote desert site.
A total of 2,818 arrests were reported at the site last year, including 2,065 during the 1988 "Reclaim the Test Site" action.
More than 100 law officers were on hand to collect and handcuff the demonstrators as they walked across a cattle guard on the main road leading to the test site.
The cattle guard has been a rallying point for protests the last eight years, and law officers have arrested activists who crossed that point onto test site property.
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