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Greenpeace activists arrested in Okinawa during summit |
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July 22, 2000
NAGO, Okinawa (AP) - Four Greenpeace activists were arrested Friday when they entered Nago harbor aboard the Rainbow Warrior ship and tried to deliver a statement to world leaders during their annual summit. The confrontation began when the group's ship arrived in Nago harbor carrying eight logs from Russian forests in an effort to highlight the problem of illegal logging in the world's ancient forests. Four Greenpeace members then boarded a small inflatable boat and landed on shore. There, the American, Japanese, Russian and Israeli activists were arrested while trying to carry the statement to the hotel where the leaders were meeting, said Greenpeace spokeswoman Gina Sanchez. She said coast guard vessels also surrounded the Rainbow Warrior because it was inside a one-mile security zone set up around the hotel. Greenpeace said the 1997 and 1998 Group of Seven summits had promised to combat illegal logging, but never took action to preserve ancient forests in places such as the Amazon, Africa and Russia's Far East. Greenpeace says the United States and Europe import 75 percent of the world's timber production. To demand action, the environmentalists have recently occupied cargo ships carrying timber off Japan, Germany, Russia, Portugal and Spain. |