Press release - 14 March, 2003
The Rainbow Warrior has been boarded by the Spanish Guardia Civil at port entrance of Rota Naval Base.
The Spanish police have boarded the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow
Warrior at port's entrance of the Rota naval base as the ship was
blocking the U.S. Navy vessel Cape Horn from delivering arms to the
Gulf region in preparation for the war against Iraq.
The crew, activists and the captain were protesting
non-violently as 20 policemen moved in to the ship. A tugboat was
preparing to move the Rainbow Warrior from the exclusion zone,
which was declared by the authorities earlier this week. Before
boarding the ship, the special forces of Spanish police, Guardia
Civil, gave the captain of the Rainbow Warrior a written order to
leave the area.
"Greenpeace considers that this is a just protest because we are
trying to prevent an illegal war. Greenpeace is acting in order
that the Spanish Government listens to the requests of its citizens
and stops supporting the war against Iraq," said Juan Lopez de
Uralde, director of Greenpeace Spain.
Yesterday, activists in inflatable boats from the Greenpeace
flagship Rainbow Warrior confronted the U.S. Coast Guard ship
Dallas as it left the Rota naval base in Spain armed with guns,
torpedoes and harpoon missiles. Four activists brandished banners
saying "No War" and chased the Dallas for two miles before being
intercepted by three police boats and a helicopter. There were no
arrests.
Greenpeace is calling on all members of the United Nations to
prevent Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. from undermining the UN
Charter by waging an illegal war on Iraq. Greenpeace said all 191
members of the UN General Assembly should use UN resolution 377,
known as 'Uniting for Peace', to call an emergency session because
the Security Council is split on the issue of how to maintain
international peace and security. (1)
VVPR info: Images of the action are available on request from Greenpeace;Video: Martin Atkin on +31 627000057Photos: Daniel Beltra on + 31 653819255
Notes: (1) A General Assembly can be convened within 24 hours to consider and recommend, measures to UN members. The resolution has been invoked ten times in the past 50 years. The full text of Resolution 377 can be found at http://nowar.greenpeace.org/ufp/