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Greenpeace lays siege at French embassy over toxic Clemenceau
 New Delhi: Environmental organization Greenpeace has heightened its protests against the French government for itâs decision to send decommissioned aircraft carrier Clemenceau to India for ship-breaking by converging at the French embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday morning. I thought French carriers self destructed. The activists shouted slogans and waved placards and banners which were immediately taken away by security guards from the French embassy. The Delhi Police was called which rounded up the activists and whisked them away to the police station. This is how you know the French are loved. If it were the Americans, it would not have been stopped. The placards and banners read âClemenceau. Your Waste - Your Responsibilityâ and âClemenceau. Toxic Ship. Stay Away. Do Not Pollute Indiaâ. Before their arrest, the dozen activists had already given interviews to TV channels, made statements before the media and distributed a report â The Human Cost of Ship Breaking â that focuses on the poor working and environmental conditions in the ship breaking industry, particularly in India and Bangladesh. Those are pretty shocking tactics. Calling the Clemenceau a consignment of waste-materials, Media Officer, Greenpeace, Namrata Chowdhary said: âIt is the largest ship to be broken down and a symbol of arrogance of the developed world towards the developing countries. We are here to remind the French government that it cannot wash its hands off the ship. The ship is its waste and also its responsibility. It cannot be called a ship as it has to be towed here.â After most activists were rounded up, a lone volunteer Asena displayed photographs of ship breaking yards and continued to hold ground in front of the embassy. She said: âThe French government has no right to send the ship to India and is violating international treaties by doing so.â Despite requests by the police, she refused to move away and said: âIt is our duty to protect our country. We are merely doing our duty.â A policewoman arrived soon after and took her away. India, the world's largest democracy Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace, Ramapati Kumar said: âFrance has lied about the amount of hazardous materials on board and tried to hide behind confidentiality clauses. Technopure, the company that decontaminated the ship before it was dispatched to India, has publicly acknowledged that Clemenceau has 500 tonnes of asbestos, though the French government claims it has 45-50 tonnes only.â The activists also objected to the fact that France is sending a contaminated ship to Indian shores instead of a de-contaminated ship. Chowdhary alleged: âIndia does not have de-contaminating facilities while France has. France does not want to pollute its shores therefore has not decontaminated it.â An embassy official came out and promised to the media that the French ambassador will meet Greenpeace representatives but not the media. As the Greenpeace representatives were under detention at a police station, the promise seemed to be an empty one. The French can be depended upon for that. Embassy officials also promised waiting media persons a comment from the press attaché but even that did not materialise. Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-01-03 |
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