Moruroa, South Pacific, 2 September, 1995 -- (GP) Twenty-two Greenpeace activists who attempted to occupy France's nuclear test site at Moruroa have now been released by French authorities in Tahiti.
Along with the 22 Greenpeace activists ranking Democrat Congressman, Eni Faleomavaega and two leading Tahitian activists, Oscar Temaru and Vito Maamaatua were also released along with journalists aboard both the MV Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior.
The Greenpeace activists who have been released reported that they were held hand-cuffed for 12-hours in a single room while under French arrest before being flown out of Moruroa.
Those released were activists who had been aboard small inflatables launched from the two larger ships, the MV Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior, along with two divers who positioned themselves under a French drilling platform. The names and nationalities of those released is still unknown but will be available soon.
Photographer Steve Morgan, now free in Tahiti, reported that the radio room of the Rainbow Warrior had been dismantled by French commandos and that the engines on board disabled.
Both the MV Greenpeace and the Rainbow Warrior along with their crews are now being towed to the nearby atoll of Hao, ironically, the site where French secret service agents were imprisoned after the bombing of Greenpeace's original Rainbow Warrior in 1985. Both ships are expected to arrive at Hao in approximately two days but French authorities have not said how long they will be held there or if their remaining crew will be deported.
A protest march and forum attended by Japan's Finance Minister and Members of Parliament from Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States is taking place at 9 a.m. in Tahiti. Protesters have been blocking roads into Papaeete since yesterday.
French authorities have delayed the carrying out of their first nuclear test. -
Contact:
Greenpeace in Tahiti: +698-433-280
Greenpeace Communications: +44171-833-0600