Greenpeace Dumps Coal at French President's Palace

[groundloop]

Source: ABC News

Paris police detained 12 Greenpeace activists who dumped a truckload of coal at the doorstep of France's presidential palace on Wednesday, hours before a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The activists also said the truck had two containers of nuclear waste with radioactive tritium inside them. While the water inside containers had far above-normal levels of radioactivity, it was not a threat to cleanup crews or police as long as it wasn't spilled, Greenpeace activists said........

The publicity stunt was aimed to send a message to French President Francois Hollande and Merkel "to abandon energies that are considered dangerous — coal and nuclear — and to finally commit to a real energy transition," said Greenpeace activist Sebastien Blavier. The group wants European countries to commit to raising their percentage of renewable energy use to 45 percent by 2030.

Currently, France gets at least two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear power — one of the highest such proportions in the world. Germany, meanwhile, last year slightly increased its share of electricity generated from coal to about 45 percent. Environmentalists have criticized the increasing use of coal, saying it is a "dirty" source because of the large amount of carbon dioxide released when it is burned.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greenpeace-dumps-coal-french-presidents-palace-22575646

[Scuba]

1. Thank you protesters!

[onehandle]

2. I've been in front of the palace gates. It's seemingly surprisingly unguarded.

10 Downing Street is like a fortress, with a dozen guys with machine guns walking around, 24/7.

It's a strange feeling when you snap a picture and half of them, hand on machine gun, glance at you at once.

[proverbialwisdom]

3. Photos on Twitter. (nt)

[saidsimplesimon]

4. France is lucky. My father suggested we should

unload horse manure outside the halls of congress.