Thousands Protest N-Tests Via Computer

To discourage France from testing nuclear weapons deep beneath the emerald surf of the South Pacific, Seishi Shimizu surfed the ‘net.

So did more than 43,000 other people from 92 countries who have signed an electronic petition on the Internet computer network condemning French plans to resume underground atomic tests next month at Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia.

“We want to gather all the murmuring voices against the tests from all over the world and make them into a big movement,” said Shimizu, 23, one of three Tokyo University graduate students who launched the protest over the Internet’s World Wide Web.

On Sunday, when the world marked the 50th anniversary of the atomic destruction of Hiroshima, about 2,000 protesters rallied near the Eiffel Tower to protest the government’s decision to resume the tests.

Protesters chanted anti-nuclear slogans and waved signs and homemade banners.