BERLIN (AFP)--Thousands of protesters took part Saturday in a demonstration at a nuclear waste disposal center in northern Germany where a trainload of treated waste is due to arrive from France next week.
Police put the number at the Gorleben site at 9,000, with the organizers claiming 12,000 environmentalists had turned out, twice the number at a similar protest at the site two years ago.
The train, transporting 123 metric tons of waste, left western France Friday and made its way Saturday through the east of the country, where two demonstrations greeted its passage.
It is the 11th such trainload of waste to be taken from the retreatment plant at La Hague in Normandy to Germany and is due to arrive Monday.
At the border between the two countries three German demonstrators blocked the train by chaining themselves to the track, police said.
The high turnout at Gorleben signaled the "rebirth of the anti-nuclear movement in Germany," said Jochen Stay, spokesman for the organizers of the demonstration.
About 10,000 German police officers have been mobilized to protect the train. The waste will be taken by road for the final 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Dannenberg to Gorleben, about 200 kilometers northwest of Berlin.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 08, 2008 11:11 ET (16:11 GMT)

Publié le 08 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones