German Greens leader says support must be won back

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

German Greens leader says support must be won back



GORLEBEN, Germany, March 25 (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's 

environmentalist Greens said on Sunday the party had to win back 

support lost over the resumption of nuclear waste shipments from 

France back to Germany next week. 



Demonstrators have accused the Greens of betraying ecologist ideals 

and say a plan to withdraw from nuclear power by the mid-2020s will 

take too long. 



Greens leader Claudia Roth said that the party had to try to win the 

trust of the anti-nuclear activists at Gorleben, the site where the 

nuclear waste will be stored. 



"We have to make clear that we are also in favour of a speedy 

withdrawal from nuclear power and that we want a different storage 

site," Roth said as a demonstration around Gorleben got under way. 



The resumption of waste transports has been a major headache for the 

anti-nuclear Greens party, junior partner in Chancellor Gerhard 

Schroeder's coalition. 



The Greens rose to political prominence in the 1970s and 1980s 

through the anti-nuclear movement and their depiction by grassroots 

members as the bad guys in the nuclear transports issue is a major 

source of embarrassment. 



More than 10,000 demonstrators gathered in the north German town of 

Lueneburg on Saturday to protest against the transports and they 

reserved much of their ire for the Greens. 



The resumed shipments are allowed under the agreement on long-term 

withdrawal from nuclear power negotiated last year by Greens 

Environment Minister Juergen Trittin, and the party has urged members 

to demonstrate peacefully. 



Transports were banned in 1998 amid fears about leakage. 



Farmers took to the streets with 400 tractors on Sunday to protest 

against the resumption of shipments. 



Activists have said they do not think they can stop the transports 

but they were out to make a point and put pressure on the Greens from 

the grassroots. 



France is due to start sending nuclear waste back to Germany on 

Monday after treatment in its reprocessing plant in La Hague. The 

last shipments was four years ago but they were stopped in 1998 amid 

safety concerns. 



Police expect the demonstrators to try to block the transports. 

During the last shipments, activists and police fought running 

battles in the fields at Gorleben. 



- ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle                                     Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100                                     

Director, Technical                             Extension 2306                                  

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service         Fax:(714) 668-3149                                          

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.                       E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net                                                      

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue           E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com                       

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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