GERMANY: Thousands attend vigils to remember the Fukushima nuclear disaster one year ago

Record ID: 215955

  • Title: GERMANY: Thousands attend vigils to remember the Fukushima nuclear disaster one year ago
  • Date: 12th March 2012
  • Summary: GUNDREMMINGEN, GERMANY (MARCH 11, 2012) (REUTERS) ANTI-NUCLEAR PROTESTERS WITH FLAG WALKING PAST TOWN SIGN READING "GUNDREMMINGEN," GUNDREMMINGEN NUCLEAR PLANT IN BACKGROUND COOLING TOWERS ANTI-NUCLEAR PROTESTERS WALKING PAST SIGN READING SOLAR, WIND, WATER PAN ACROSS PROTESTERS YELLOW ANTI-NUCLEAR FLAG ELDERLY WOMAN HOLDING BANNER READING IN GERMAN 'FUKUSHIMA IS EV
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany, Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Disasters
  • Reuters ID: LVA386J7393N56YOWCHT9JY3UABQ
  • Story Text: Thousands of Germans attended vigils and protest marches in several parts of the country on Sunday (March 11) to remember Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster one year ago and to demand an end to the use of atomic energy.
    In the northern town of Remlingen near Salzgitter, anti-nuclear protesters formed a human chain of lights between the nuclear waste dumps of Asse and Schacht Konrad, 75 kilometres apart.
    Erika Rieger was one of the protesters standing outside the Asse 2 storage depot, telling Reuters Television "I'm a mother of five children and I took care of the next generation and now I feel responsible to answer my children's questions and questions which I of course also have."
    Fellow protester Heike Wiegel said, "We want to make it very clear that the way nuclear waste was handled at Asse is no solution. This waste must be taken back, and I mean now."
    In the Bavarian town of Gundremmingen, some 500 kilometres from Remlingen, thousands of people took part in a protest march that led them past the Gundremmingen nuclear plant.
    Monika Hiebelt, a demonstrator in her 60s, said, "If lessons had been drawn we would not have to be here today," referring to Fukushima, "Simply put, the nuclear plants would have been shut down. Nobody can tell me that the lights go out here if for instance we were to shut down Gundremmingen. Let the wind turbines do the job instead of shutting them down every time there is too much electricity. It's just a mess."
    Germany, Europe's biggest economy, decided to abandon nuclear power after the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 11 last year which hit Japanese reactors, causing an environmental disaster
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register