1. GV Greenpeace activists at dock fence. 0.11
2. GV Activists prepare to climb fence. 0.15
3. GV Police inside fence watching demonstrators and talking to officials. (3 SHOTS) 0.31
4. GV Demonstrators carrying ladders and boards. (3 SHOTS) 0.45
5. SV Police emerging from docks, and radioing from car. (2 SHOTS) 1.03
6. GV & LV Crane in docks with demonstrator climbing up. (2 SHOTS) 1.16
7. GV Docks. (2 SHOTS) 1.29
InitialsJS/JRS


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Background: CHERBOURG, FRANCE

Three members of the naturalist and protest movement, Greenpeace, climbed onto a crane in the northern French port of cherbourg on January 3 in an effort to stop the crane being used to unload 24 tonnes of nuclear waste from Japan. During the night of January 3.-4, a group of demonstrators tried to gain access to the port but were kept out by police. However, in the morning, three protestors were firmly installed in the cabin of the crane, reportedly with enough food to last two weeks. Greenpeace director Peter Wilkinson, arrested in the French town of Fecamp on January 3, was released the next day after police told him he could stay in France, but any future visits would need special authority. With the ship carrying the nuclear waste from Japan, the UK registered Pacific Crane, due to dock in Cherbourg on January 5, the Greenpeace vessel Sirius had been despatched to try to intercept if before it docks.

Source: REUTERS - FREDERIC FABRE