24
August 2002
Keep
Nukes out of Africa!
1400 Hrs - A total of twelve activists
have been arrested and are in police custody. The activists
came from the Netherlands, the UK, Argentina, New Zealand,
Canada, Spain, Mexico, Lebanon, and Australia. With just two
days to go before the start of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg,
the Greenpeace action is a strong message to governments from
South Africa and the rest of the world that dirty and unsafe
technology - nuclear power and fossil fuels - are not sustainable
sources of energy. Government leaders must not allow the dumping
of unsafe and unclean technology on Africa.
1100 Hrs - One of the climbers has
been arrested at the Koeberg power plant but the rest remain
despite some very heavy handed and dangerous actions by the
police. A police helicopter hovered very close to the climbers
creating a strong wind that swung the climbers around while
the helicopter blades were only 5 meters away.
The same police helicopter then flew in very
close to the Harald inflatable, close enough to touch, endangering
the crew of the boat and the helicopter.
 |
 Vincent
on the Harald relays information about the helicopter
back to the Esperanza [play] |
One of the inflatables, the Grey Whale, got
something caught in its propeller and was disabled. From the
Esperanza we could see the Harald towing the Grey Whale back
to the Esperanza. They got about half way out when we saw
another boat speeding towards them on a line of interception.
It was the coast police. The two Greenpeace inflatables under
the power of only one engine could not outrun the police launch
and were intercepted. We could then see another smaller police
inflatable coming towards them as well.
The two Greenpeace inflatables continued
on their course to the Esperanza but the two police boats,
with a helicopter hovering overhead, cut across their course
forcing them to turn away, rammed into them and then finally
two men from the police boat boarded the Greenpeace boats,
shoving people aside and pushing the driver out of position.
The police have taken control of the two
Greenpeace boats and have taken them back towards the shore.
It is a horrible feeling watching your friends
being arrested and being powerless to help. The police have
overreacted but we are confident that when things calm down
and it becomes apparent that our protest was peaceful and
nonviolent, the police will treat our people well.
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