Protesters Slow, Can’t Stop Trainload Of N-Waste Thousands Delay Shipment Across Germany

Police used water cannons and dogs to hold back thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators Friday as a train loaded with 60 tons of atomic waste arrived at a temporary storage site in northern Germany.

Despite the 30,000 police deployed to keep the rails clear, the protesters repeatedly managed to delay the train along the 250-mile, daylong trek, chaining themselves to the rails only to be cut loose by police.

About 6,000 demonstrators were at the Ahaus storage site when the train pulled in, several hours late. Even as it approached, rolling at a walking pace, the train had to stop because of activists chained to the rails.

About 450 activists were taken into custody and seven were injured, police said.

Three previous nuclear waste transfers since 1995 all have triggered similarly fierce protests in Germany, where anti-nuclear sentiment is strong.

Energy officials moved up this year’s shipment by a week to foil aggressive anti-nuclear activists who had been protesting for weeks and had big demonstrations planned. Officials feared violence as well as danger involving the waste, transported in 12 massive containers.

The activists say the containers are not leakproof, despite government assurances, and so shipping the waste could cause an environmental disaster.

They also complain the waste will sit indefinitely at the temporary site, because Germany has no plans yet for permanent storage. Most want Germany to shut down its nuclear power plants altogether.

The train set out from Walheim, in southwestern Germany, early Friday. It was forced to stop briefly after only 200 yards while police cleared away demonstrators.

Farther along, the convoy was delayed for 1-1/2 hours by four protesters who chained themselves to the rails. A later bomb threat turned out to be a false alarm.

Police with dogs, water cannons and nightsticks kept more than 2,500 other protesters from pushing toward the train, which had to wait about an hour for an all-clear before covering the last three miles.

In Ahaus, about 400 protesters occupying a train crossing around noon were surrounded by about three times as many police, who then carried the protesters away.