Action against nuclear waste in France
04/06/2010, Greenpeace activists chain themselves to the railway line in order to block a train transporting nuclear waste in Tricastin (Drôme) in the south of France. The consignment of nuclear waste is due to be loaded onto the transport ship 'Kapitan Kuroptev' at Le Havre with the destination of Russia. Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on the export of nuclear waste.
Greenpeace activists yesterday blocked the train tracks for the train taking nuclear waste from the Eurodif nuclear plant in Le Havre (a subsidy of French company Areva) to Russia. Since the action Areva and its subsidiaries have asked the judge to ban Greenpeace from disrupting their transports. The penalty fine will be 75,000 EUR per violation. Reuters reports on the details of the court ruling in La Tribune, saying that the court prohibits the Greenpeace activists from approaching within 150 meters of the convoy on land within 300m offshore to the limit of territorial waters, hinder or obstruct the loading.
The action in France yesterday was covered by Le Monde, Le Figaro, TV5 Monde (AFP) TF1, France 3 and 20 minutes. The story was also covered in Russian paper Gazeta.
In print media French papers Aujourd'hui en France, l'actu, Liberation and the global edition of the New York Times featured articles with coverage and pictures of the action.
Rotterdam Action - still a weak connection to the whaling issue
APA (in Austrian Der Standard) made a weak connection between the action in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and the actual whaling issues, mentioning that the trade in meat from fin whales is prohibited by rules of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). EFE has pretty much the same tone in Colombian Vanguardia. Trouw from The Netherlands mentions that commercial whaling will be discussed once again by International Whaling Commission (IWC) on June 21.
Canada arming Parliament Hill
In Canada, The Gazette, National Post and the Toronto Sun, reports that the federal government is considering plans to turn Canada’s Parliament Hill in Ottawa into a high-tech security zone. Ever since Greenpeace activists scaled the roofs of some Parliament buildings last December and unfurled banners criticizing the Harper government’s record on climate change, the Royal Canadian Mounted police (RCMP) has had to cope with steep overtime bills for extra officers being used to patrol Parliament Hill. RCMP will tighten security by starting to reuse submachine guns it has had in storage for several years and make those available as secondary or backup weapons for the Mounties assigned to patrol Parliament Hill.
Private companies have shown the interest to install an "integrated security system" that would include 3,000 video cameras, 1,500 "panic" buttons, 3,000 alarm sensors and motion detectors, as well as new biometric identifying tools and more.
Picture credit: © Alain Combemorel/Greenpeace, France