Anti-whaling group clashes with vessel

The Japan Coast Guard said anti-whaling activists threw rotten butter and other objects at a Japanese whale-processing ship, the latest high-seas clash over the country’s annual hunt.

The coast guard said its officers aboard the vessel responded by tossing nonlethal explosive devices as a warning.

The leader of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society anti-whaling group said he had been shot at during the confrontation with the whaling vessel, the Nisshin Maru, and was saved by his bulletproof vest. The group released a photo of him holding what appeared to be a spent slug.

Japan denied shots had been fired. It was impossible to verify either side’s account of the clash, which occurred in Antarctic waters about 1,800 miles south-southwest of Melbourne, Australia, according to the coast guard.