GREENPEACE ended its occupation of the US spy base at Menwith Hill, North Yorkshire, early yesterday.

Al Baker and Richard Watson gave themselves up to military police just after midnight, after spending 17 hours on top of a transmitter at the camp, on the moors above Harrogate.

The two-day protest was called off as Independence Day came to an end, but Greenpeace has yet to draw a line under the campaign against the US "Son of Star Wars" missile defence programme.

"We are not ruling anything out or anything in," said Andy Tait, one of the coordinators of the demonstration this week.

He said: "The whole purpose of this event was to expose the role that Britain will play in the Star Wars programme and we have done that to great effect.

"The British public, politicians and media now know the introduction of a Star Wars programme will dangerously destabilise international attempts to abolish nuclear weapons, and make Yorkshire a target."

He paid tribute to women who ran a peace camp outside the base throughout the 1990s, and who have pledged to continue highlighting the role the listening station at Menwith Hill plays.

Mr Tait said it was not acceptable for Prime Minister Tony Blair to "sit on the fence" over the Star Wars issue.

"He has a clear opportunity to stop the programme in its tracks by refusing to allow Menwith Hill and Fylingdales, on the North York Moors, to be part of the Star Wars system, and he should exercise that choice when Bush visits the UK in two weeks' time," he said.