GORLEBEN, Germany - A convoy of nuclear waste reached the northern German storage depot of Gorleben this week after authorities cleared away anti-nuclear activists who descended on the area to block its path.
Thousands of protesters accompanied the convoy, many wearing black bands for a French activist who died in France on Sunday after having a leg cut off by a train carrying the waste. He had been sitting on a railway track in protest.
The 100 tonnes of nuclear waste left the French reprocessing facility of La Hague on Saturday by train, and was transferred onto 12 flatbed trucks in Dannenberg, 20 km from the depot. The convoy was escorted to the depot by 10,000 police.
There were sporadic clashes between police, wielding batons, and demonstrators trying to disrupt transport between Dannenberg and Gorleben.
Some 1,500 demonstrators held up the convoy by blocking the road until police carried off the demonstrators and towed a number of tractors away. Authorities said most of the protests were peaceful.
Anti-nuclear activists protesting against such shipments have clashed violently with police in previous years. In 2002, protesters disrupted the passage of a train by setting tyres alight on the tracks and by chaining themselves to rails.
There are now 56 nuclear waste containers stored at Gorleben, which has room for 420 containers. Protesters fear that the interim depot at Gorleben could be turned into the permanent waste depot.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
