Armed police moved in as the forgotten heroes of the Cold War protested outside the Ministry of Defence.
Dozens of atomic test veterans and their families marched down Whitehall protesting the "no risk, no rigour, no justice" of the repeated failure to award them a medal.
The Missing Medal demo stopped traffic and saw families in tears as they laid wreaths at the Cenotaph on the 65th anniversary of Operation Grapple X, Britain's first H-bomb, and ahead of Remembrance Sunday. Test veterans are plagued by cancers, miscarriages, and birth defects in their children.