Go Gorleben!

In the beginning of March, probably 3rd - 7th, six CASTOR nuclear waste flasks from the French reprocessing plant at La Hague and some from German nuclear power stations are supposed to arrive at the German nuclear waste site at Gorleben near Hamburg, Germany.

In the last two years massive contingents of police, armed with water-cannons, forced through two CASTOR transports with around 5-10,000 people resisting them. There was due to be a shipment in November 1996 but this had to be cancelled due to the financial cost (the last shipment cost £25 million) and the growing number of people that are prepared to take direct action to halt it.

With this shipment the German nuclear state plans to crush the resistance with mass police presence in a last effort to frustrate any opposition. A waste train of six Castor flasks stretches over half a mile and is difficult to secure and it seems that the convoy can be prevented this time because the capacity of the state to safeguard it is reaching limits.

A new tactic has been to be developed to disperse all protesters along the transport route in resistance camps, because otherwise there will be too many people to gather in one place. Each particular camp will have different tactics to try and halt the shipment including sit-downs, blockades, tunnels and digging up the road.

If you want to help fight this nuclear insanity try to be in the city of Dannenberg in the Gorleben area in the beginning of March. Near the city centre there is a camp opposite a petrol station which provides all the information. If you can't find it, ask. There are tents, but if possible take along your own. To get there take a ferry from Harwich to Hamburg, then take a train from Hamburg to Uelzen and from there a bus to Dannenberg. Try to look ‘average’ as the police may arrest or send back people entering the Gorleben area who look like protesters. Bring waterproof gear to protect you against water-cannons, and heavy clothes to protect you against the police.

The contact is telephone 0049 5841 4684 or fax 0049 5841 3197. They will call you when the transport starts and you have then got two or three days left to reach the site.