Peace plans shortlived
NZPA-Reuter Bonn Anti-nuclear protests turned into running battles between West German anti-nuclear demonstrators and riot police, in which 180 people were arrested and more than 100 injured at the weekend. The clashes happened at the Brokdorf nuclear plant in the north of West Germany, and at the site of a planned nuclear waste reprocessing plant in the Bavarian village of Wackersdorf.
At Brokdorf organisers said there were 40,000 protesters but the police said the estimate was 8000.
The protests had been intended as a peaceful show of opposition by the anti-nuclear movement,
whose ranks have swollen since the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the Soviet Union on April 26.
Demonstrators at Broksdorf said the police acted without provocation and conservative politicians blamed the violence on the protesters. A Federal Government spokesman, Friedhelm Ost, said the clashes were criminal acts “planned and carried out with the greatest possible brutality” and the Right-wing Bavarian Premier, Franz Josef Strauss, called for tougher laws to control demonstrations.
In villages around Brokdorf, groups of demonstrators set cars alight and attacked police with missiles and petrol bombs.
About 24 policemen were injured and at least 140 people were arrested, some for having illegal weapons.
Riot police used water cannon and tear-gas to break up the crowd. Organisers and witnesses said the conduct of the police was “sheer provocation” but the Minister of the Interior for the State of Schleswig-Hol-stein, Klaus-Eduard Claussen, said it had been "sensible and appropriate.”
Mr Strauss described some of the attacks against the police at Wackersdorf as attempted murder. “The violent communist and anarchist criminals of Wackersdorf want to destroy the rights of demon-
strators and change the structure of the State. Our State will not give in to them,” he said.
Wackersdorf has become a symbolic gathering point for West German opponents of nuclear energy and is often the scene of clashes between police and protesters.
About 13,000 people were at Wackersdorf in defiance of a court ban on demonstrations near the site.
After a peaceful rally clashes broke out with the police when groups of masked rioters tried to break through the barriers around the site.
About 80 people were injured and the police said 40 were arrested.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19860609.2.81
Bibliographic details
Press, 9 June 1986, Page 6
Word Count
374Peace plans shortlived Press, 9 June 1986, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.
Log in