Press release - 7 March, 2003
Greenpeace activists created a 'live cemetery' in front of the Government House in Santiago, Chile, as the U.N. Security Council meets in New York.
As the UN Security Council prepared to meet in New York,
Greenpeace activists created a 'live cemetery' in front of
Government House in Santiago, Chile. Forty activists, dressed in
black, erected 70 white crosses on the grass at the main entrance
to the building and lay down on the ground pretending to be dead,
in protest against the impending war against Iraq.
"We're here to remind President Ricardo Lagos of the human cost
of war and to make it clear to him that Chilean people support the
millions worldwide who are saying 'no' to this impending attack on
Iraq. We're calling on the Chilean Government and all other
governments of the world to veto any resolution that supports war
in today's Security Council meeting," said Gonzalo Villarino,
Executive Director of Greenpeace in Chile.
The activists, escorted by 50 police officers, then marched
round the corner of Government House carrying a banner and the
crosses and continued to protest beneath the window of President
Lagos' office. Meanwhile, Gonzalo Villarino was received by
Government House and delivered 7000 signatures of Chilean people
opposed to war.
Meanwhile in Luxembourg, Greenpeace activists erected a
sculpture in the Ministry of State's courtyard. The sculpture, a
gun whose barrel is knotted, is a replica of the one in front of
the UN headquarters in New York. Greenpeace is calling on all
governments to act now to prevent the war in Iraq.