condemnation

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France defies world condemnation

As if its decision to resume nuclear testing in the Pacific was not enough, France allowed its soldiers to board the Rainbow Warrior II and in an act of terrorism arrest the protesting crew members and interrogate them about their presence at Mururoa.

The Rainbow Warrior has been towed under duress from the Mururoa nuclear test site into intemational waters by the French navy after being boarded by French commandos 18 hours ago. In an unprecedented breach of military security at the test site, Greenpeace activists also occupied the nuclear test drilling rig inside the Mururoa lagoon in protest at France’s decision to resume testing there in September.

A Greenpeace inflatable with three people aboard is still in the vicinity of the test site. Greenpeace’s Stephanie Mills, on board the Rainbow Warrior, said France should stop preparations for tests while the activists remained undetected in the area.

The activists abroad the inflatable are David McTaggart, (Greenpeace’s honorary chairman and a veteran of protests at the site), Henk Haazen (NZ/NL) and Chris Robinson (Australia). The Greenpeace

vessel Vega and a Danish vessel Bifrost are also near the test site, the international waters.

The Rainbow Warrior was boarded just off the pass into the lagoon by French commandos who broke into the bridge and used tear gas to force crew from the ship at 0630 local time. Commandos split open the radio door with an axe and used tear gas to drive crew (Thom Looney and Stephanie Mills) to climb out of the port hole and onto the bridge above. The Rainbow Warrior was rammed by a large tug, causing damage damage to its bow, before being towed to a mooring point inside the lagoon.

Mills said the French military had taken the easy resort to violence so stop Greenpeace’s peaceful protest. “But no amount of force can weaken Greenpeace’s determination to stop nuclear testing a Mururoa and worldwide,” she said.

“President Chirac cannot ignore the

strength of international opinion against a resumption of testing at the atoll.”

Three out of four Greenpeace inflata bles launched outside the 12 mile exclu sion zone around the atoll at 2am and 3.30 am yesterday local time succeeded in entering the lagoon and reaching the drilling rig, in spite of French navy claims last week that the French authorities had sufficient resources to repel Greenpeace, Two activists, Richard Lency (UK) and Madaleine Habib (Australia), sealed the drilling rig and occupied it for more than 20 minutes. The Greenpeace inflatable crews were then boarded by commandos after a two hour chase through the exclu sion zone and lagoon.

The 23 crew members from both the inflatables and the Rainbow Warrior were then transferred to Mururoa and held and interrogated by French military police for more than 15 hours. ■

Greenpeace at Mururoa