French anti-nuclear activists and police scuffled on Wednesday in Normandy as a train convoy transporting radioactive waste processed by nuclear producer Areva prepared to head to its storage site in Germany. Several hundred protesters tried to occupy the train tracks a few kilometres outside the town of Valognes in northwestern France before being repelled by police in riot gear. Police said they detained five people.
Activists played a cat and mouse game with police forces, who launched canisters of tear gas and charged the crowd with batons. "This movement is the indignation of people who are aware of the dangers of nuclear and who reject politics geared only toward the profit of certain businesses," said a 60-year-old activist, who did not want to give his name.
The trains - which were scheduled to depart about 13:30 GMT - will carry 11 tubular containers of highly radioactive nuclear waste processed by Areva in the treatment plant at nearby La Hague.