German protesters block nuclear waste train

Riot police beat back some 15,000 protesters attempting to block a train carrying nuclear waste from western France to a disposal center at Gorleben in Germany Nov. 9. In Germany’s largest and most violent anti-nuclear protest since 2001, activists set fire to barricades across the tracks, which police extinguished with water cannon. A caravan of some 300 tractors also blocked the tracks. Several protesters and police were injured in the confrontation. “This is a strong sign of the renaissance of the anti-nuclear movement,” said Jochen Stay of the anti-nuclear group X-tausendmal quer, which organized the protests. (AFP, Nov. 10)

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