POLICE BLOCK GREENPEACE DELIVERY OF PETITIONS TO CHIRAC

Paris-1 September 1995 A human chain of about 200 people from throughout Europe attempted this morning to deliver just under five million signatures against French nuclear testing to Presidenc Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace in Paris, but were stopped by police.

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The chain, which, at 11.15 am, began passing some of the petitions along the Alexandre III Bridge over the River Seine in central Paris, got as far as the Champs Elysees but was blocked by police, and over 100 arrests made. Some of the petitions were seized.

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Two boats, which were supposed to carry VIPs to the protests, were also blocked by police but the VIPs joined the protest on the bridge where a group of a further 500 protestors are now holding a demonstration. Members of the French public have joined this demonstration.

"Stopping the delivery of these petitions in Paris today will not silence the massive international protest against French nuclear testing," said Penelope Komites, Executive Director of Greenpeace France, also arrested this morning. "Today Chirac has attempted to suffocate a protest in Paris, but he cannot silence the world. Who is he trying to fool?"

Among the VIPs at the protest include members of Parliament from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Belgium.

The delivery of the petitions has been plagued with difficulty from the French authorities this week, as they banned a peace flotilla from coming up the Seine, blocked Greenpeace vessel BELUGA from coming through locks on its way to Paris, and outlawed the actual delivery of the petitions, saying it would constitute a "public disturbance."

"The biggest public disturbance Paris and the world faces today is Chirac's nuclear testing programme in the South Pacific," said Komites.

Two of the banned protest vessels banned have sailed from the UK. In another desperate attempt to gag protests, French police yesterday were sailing up and down the River Seine, warning boat owners against joining the Greenpeace protest. The Beluga is still out of Paris, blocked at one of the locks on the Seine.

On board the Rainbow Warrior just outside the Moruroa 12©mile exclusion zone, campaigner Stephanie Mills said "protest cannot be silenced © neither in the South Pacific nor on the rivers of Paris. Chirac is making France an international pariah."

The petitions have come from throughout the world, from at least 35 different countries, along with a further 50,000 gathered electronically from the Internet and 300,000 from France. Among the celebrities are politicians, scientists, writers, actors, musicians, Nobel Peace Prizewinners including: