Paris--29 August 1995-- The French Govt has just issued an injunction (1) to stop the Greenpeace boat Beluga from leading a European protest flotilla up the Seine in Paris on Friday.
This afternoon, it was confirmed that the French Government put pressure on the Touring Club of France, to refuse the Beluga right of berth under the Pont D'Iena. The Touring Club had previously given permission but today were forced to change.
The French authorities are even threatening to place their own boats along the quays of the Seine to stop any attempt at berthing for any of the Boats against the Bomb."
The French Government has also banned a human chain of protestors and VIPs from throughout Europe, organised to take the more three million signatures against French testing, collected by Greenpeace worldwide, to the Elysee Palace from the Beluga at the Pont D'Iena. The authorities have cited "disturbance of the public order" as the reason for this ban.
"By stopping the arrival of the European flotilla Against Testing in Paris and the stopping of the petitions, the representative of the French people, President Chirac, ridicules the right to freedom of expression of the millions of citizens who want to make a peaceful protest against the resumption of nuclear testing" declared Penelope Komites, Executive Director of Greenpeace France.
"France's head of State has demonstrated to us yet again how distant he seems to be to the democratic values and freedom of expression. Recent opinion polls show that the majority of French people have declared themselves to be against the resumption of French nuclear testing," said Komites.
"Greenpeace has no intention however of giving in to intimidations and blackmail," she added.
"Does President Chirac wish to impose a 12-mile exclusion zone around Paris as well as Moruroa?"
(1) the order is similar in legal terms to an injunction.
Further information:
Greenpeace France 33 1 47 70 46 89
Cindy Baxter Greenpeace Communications 44 171 359 6735.