Thousands rally against nuclear power in Germany

AFP/Reuters/Berlin

No nukes: People form a human chain yesterday in front of the nuclear power plant in Neckarswestheim, Germany. More than 60,000 opponents of nuclear energy formed a 45km human chain across southern Germany to demand an immediate end to the use of nuclear energy. Organisers said that turnout was probably boosted by the day’s news of a possible accident and meltdown at a Japanese nuclear power plant stemming from damage sustained in a massive earthquake on Friday. The protest focused on the Neckarwestheim nuclear power plant near the southern German city of Stuttgart

Tens of thousands of activists protested yesterday against Germany’s plans to prolong its dependency on nuclear power, as an explosion at a quake-hit plant in Japan fuelled fears of a meltdown.

About 60,000 people formed a 45km human chain between the nuclear power station of Neckarwestheim and the city of Stuttgart in southwest Germany, said Jochen Stay, a member of green group Ausgestrahlt (Radiated).

Activists organised the rally to protest against Berlin’s plans to extend the lives of nuclear power stations, a key voter issue in polls that will take place two weeks later in Bade-Wurtemberg region, where Stuttgart is located.

Environmental groups have also called for "anti-nuclear vigils” across the nation beginning tomorrow at 1700 GMT.

The demonstration took place on the same day as an explosion at a nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, raising fears of a radioactive meltdown following an 8.9 magnitude earthquake that unleashed tsunamis that destroyed everything in their path.

"The events in Japan show once again how much nuclear energy is uncontrollable and dangerous,” said the green activist Stay.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel "will understand that whoever extends the life of nuclear power stations shortens his or her own political life”, he added.

The German parliament in late 2009 voted to extend the use of its nuclear stations, reneging on a plan to gradually end their use under previous chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Merkel has meanwhile called senior cabinet ministers to meet her in light of fears of a meltdown in Japan, her spokesman said.

Earlier the opposition Social Democrats and Greens seized on the accident in Japan to call for a change in Germany’s nuclear policy.

"(It shows that) we cannot master nature, nature rules us,” said Renate Kuenast, the Greens’ parliamentary leader.

The opposition says several German nuclear plants could not withstand a direct hit by an aircraft or an earthquake, although Germany is far less prone to quakes than Japan.

Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen and an expert on nuclear plant safety will attend Merkel’s meeting, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.