GOETTINGEN - Anti nuclear activists staged a sit down protest on rail tracks in northern Germany yesterday, delaying a train carrying a controversial shipment of nuclear waste on its way to a storage depot. Police deployed in Germany's biggest post war security operation removed dozens of activists from the tracks just outside the city of Goettingen. The blockade delayed the nuclear train by 20 minutes as well as other rail traffic.
It was the first major delay for the train, carrying six containers of spent nuclear fuel, which left the southwestern town of Walheim early yesterday on its journey north to Gorleben medium term storage depot, east of Hanover. Authorities banned demonstrations along the route and the shipment was guarded by a total of 30,000 police.