MACMILLAN BLOEDEL CUTS GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS FREE, GREENPEACE GIVES CHASE

1st AUGUST 1996 - 15:30
MASSET INLET, HAIDA GWAII, BRITISH COLUMBIA ,

Three activists chained themselves to the MacMillan Bloedel raw log barge the Haida Brave this morning in McClinton Bay in Masset Inlet in Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands).

Employees on the barge turned the fire hose on the Greenpeace activists trying to force them off with a strong spray of water and then cut off one activist who was chained to the stern ladder using a gas-powered grinder.

The barge then pulled anchor and proceeded up Masset Inlet to begin it's journey back to the lower mainland, however two teams of Greenpeace activists in inflatable zodiacs have given chase and will attempt to block the barge in the inlet.

Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on all logging in the remaining pristine rainforest areas of British Columbia and full biological and cultural inventories.

Background information and the early press release are available through the Greenpeace in Vancouver.