Norwegian Whaler Confronts Activists
OSLO — A Norwegian whale hunter used force Saturday to prevent Greenpeace activists chained to his ship from stopping his whale hunt, Norwegian television reported.
A police spokesman said the incident in the Arctic port of Tromsoe had passed without violence, saying: “Everything went peacefully.†But Norwegian television showed whaling association Chairman Steinar Bastesen trying to throw an anti-whaling woman activist overboard.
Bastesen was forcibly prevented by another environmentalist from tossing the screaming woman into the sea.
Asked on television if he believed that news coverage of the incident would hurt Norway’s whaling cause, Bastesen said: “No. They occupied my ship, and we removed them from my ship.â€
The International Whaling Commission on Friday urged an end to whale killing. Norway is the only country breaking a commercial whaling moratorium.
Seventeen Greenpeace activists chained themselves to the whaleboat, but Bastesen and his crew used welding equipment to break their bonds. A dozen activists were still aboard when the ship set out, only to be put ashore on an island 25 miles away.
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