Greenpeace drops banner from Swedish nuclear plant's roof
Monday 14 June 2010
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EmailPolice have arrested over 50 Greenpeace activists in Sweden after they broke into a state-owned nuclear power plant prior to a forthcoming vote on whether to replace the country's existing reactors.
The activists entered Forsmark in the early morning and several managed to access a building rooftop.
In a video posted on the website of Greenpeace Sweden, activists dressed in bright yellow "sun" costumes were shown waving signs calling for Sweden's nuclear plants to be replaced by renewable energy sources.
The protesters did not enter any of the operating areas and plant officials said that the activists had not posed a security risk.
Over 50 were being held on charges of breaking and entering. None resisted arrest.
Sweden currently draws around half of its energy from nuclear power.
The Forsmark plant, which was connected to the Swedish grid in 1980 and produces about one-seventh of Sweden's electricity output, had to be shut down in 2006 over fears of a meltdown in one of the reactors.
Vattenfall declared a state of heightened security around the plant on Monday.
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