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The Rainbow Warrior makes her way out to the commemoration ceremony in Matuari Bay marking 20 years since the original Rainbow Warrior was bombed.
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Attending the ceremony are Rongelap Senator Abbaca Anjan-Maddison ,
Anne Summers Chair of Greenpeace International, Greenpeace staff and
former Rainbow Warrior crew members.
A team of divers will take a marble wreath carved with a peace dove down to the wreck of the original Rainbow Warrior, led by Peter Willcox, the captain on the night of the bombing,
On July 10 1985, the original Rainbow Warrior was in Auckland preparing to lead a peace flotilla to protest against French nuclear testing at Muroroa. At 11.50pm the ship was rocked by two bomb blasts which sank it, killing Portugese photographer Fernando Pereira.
Crew members recall that Fernando went below deck to get his cameras.
As Captain Peter Willcox explains, "While Fernando was in his cabin, which was below the water line, a second bomb went off."
When police divers recovered Fernando's body, he had drowned in his cabin, the straps of his camera bag were around one leg.
Despite official denials from Paris, within days the New Zealand police arrested two French secret service agents, Allain Marfart and Dominique Prieur in connection with the bombing.
It was not until September that the French government admitted ordering the attack. Only Mafart and Prieur served time, both less than 3 years of a 10 year sentence. The divers who set the bombs were never caught.
The bombing of the famous ship galvanised support for Greenpeace from all over the world. The act of state-sponsored terrorism still resonates today, with the city of Toronto in Canada this year proclaiming July 10 "Rainbow Warrior Day".
"The Rainbow Warrior is a symbol of hope and peace, especially in a world still coming to grips with violence, terrorism and war," said Danny Kennedy, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Campaigns Manager.
"Bombs are never acceptable – not on the Rainbow Warrior, in the streets of London and Baghdad, and not in the nuclear arsenals of the US, France, the UK and the other nuclear weapon states."
Greenpeace activists around the world will hold peaceful commemoration services: including a lantern ceremony in Sydney; a church service in Suva attended by the Fijian Vice President, and in Paris more than 500 activists will create a giant rainbow symbol of hope and peace.
Following the commemoration activities, the Rainbow Warrior will head to Australia on a Clean Energy Revolution tour from July 22 to August 3 - visiting Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne and Adelaide.
A team of divers will take a marble wreath carved with a peace dove down to the wreck of the original Rainbow Warrior, led by Peter Willcox, the captain on the night of the bombing,
On July 10 1985, the original Rainbow Warrior was in Auckland preparing to lead a peace flotilla to protest against French nuclear testing at Muroroa. At 11.50pm the ship was rocked by two bomb blasts which sank it, killing Portugese photographer Fernando Pereira.
Crew members recall that Fernando went below deck to get his cameras.
As Captain Peter Willcox explains, "While Fernando was in his cabin, which was below the water line, a second bomb went off."
When police divers recovered Fernando's body, he had drowned in his cabin, the straps of his camera bag were around one leg.
Despite official denials from Paris, within days the New Zealand police arrested two French secret service agents, Allain Marfart and Dominique Prieur in connection with the bombing.
It was not until September that the French government admitted ordering the attack. Only Mafart and Prieur served time, both less than 3 years of a 10 year sentence. The divers who set the bombs were never caught.
The bombing of the famous ship galvanised support for Greenpeace from all over the world. The act of state-sponsored terrorism still resonates today, with the city of Toronto in Canada this year proclaiming July 10 "Rainbow Warrior Day".
"The Rainbow Warrior is a symbol of hope and peace, especially in a world still coming to grips with violence, terrorism and war," said Danny Kennedy, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Campaigns Manager.
"Bombs are never acceptable – not on the Rainbow Warrior, in the streets of London and Baghdad, and not in the nuclear arsenals of the US, France, the UK and the other nuclear weapon states."
Greenpeace activists around the world will hold peaceful commemoration services: including a lantern ceremony in Sydney; a church service in Suva attended by the Fijian Vice President, and in Paris more than 500 activists will create a giant rainbow symbol of hope and peace.
Following the commemoration activities, the Rainbow Warrior will head to Australia on a Clean Energy Revolution tour from July 22 to August 3 - visiting Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne and Adelaide.
