Four MSPs have been arrested during protests at the Faslane naval base backed by at least eight other senior Scottish politicians.

The attempted blockade of the Faslane naval base, home of Britain's nuclear submarines, was organised by the Trident Ploughshares campaign and Scottish CND.

The protests saw dozens of people, including Scottish Socialist MSPs Rosie Kane and Frances Curran and Green MSPs Mark Ballard and Patrick Harvie, arrested at the gates or seeking to enter the base at points around its perimeter.

Ballard and Harvie were later charged with breach of the peace and resisting arrest.

Ballard said it was "important that people show their opposition to the absurdity of these weapons".

Earlier, a Trident Ploughshares spokesman told ePolitix.com that the protest was designed to "cause lots of disruption to what we regard as an illegal and illegitimate operation".

The event was also drawing attention "to the UK's hypocrisy on weapons of mass destruction", he added.

Among the other MSPs attending the protest were Linda Fabiani, Nicola Sturgeon, Rob Gibson and Sandra White of the Scottish Nationalists.

Robin Harper and Mark Ruskell of the Greens were also at the event, while the party's Eleanor Scott was also expected to attend.

Labour's Marilyn Glen had also been expected to back the campaign.

Sturgeon, a Glasgow MSP, said the UK government took the country into a war over weapons of mass destruction that don't exist while "[making] room in Scotland for the most lethal bombs possible".

"The only way we can be truly safe from the nuclear menace is to get rid of these weapons and for Scotland to lead the way towards a non-nuclear world," added fellow nationalist MSP Sandra White.