Greenpeace atop cranes in Denmark to stop GM beans
Date: 24-Jan-00
Country: DENMARK
The protest came as delegates from 134 nations were gathering in
Montreal for negotiations on a United Nations-sponsored agreement aimed
at protecting biological diversity.
The meeting, due to open on Monday, has sparked protests from groups
opposed to the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food.
"We want to prevent the GMO soy beans from coming into Denmark,"
Greenpeace spokesman Jan Soendergaard said.
Police were monitoring the non-violent action, which began at 10 a.m.
(0900 GMT). They said 12 activists out of 40 were still atop the cranes
over six hours later.
The demonstrators - from Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, France and
Germany - climbed the cranes to prevent the cargo ship Legionario from
unloading genetically engineered soy-pellets intended for animal fodder,
Greenpeace said.
The ship arrived from Argentina with a 45,000 tonne cargo, a mixture of
naturally grown and genetically modified soy beans, Soendergaard said.
Genetically engineered (GE) crops were entering the food chain through
meat producing countries such as Denmark, the world's largest exporter
of pork meat, Greenpeace said.
The Ritzau news agency reported the unloading of the ship was scheduled
to begin on Monday.
Greenpeace said the activists, which had not chained themselves to the
cranes, would continue their protest "as long as we can sustain it"
despite freezing temperatures of minus two degrees Celsius.