German police unable to protect nuclear waste train

The progress of the train carrying nuclear waste to Germany from France is now around 40 kilometres from its destination but is still being halted by protesters.

Police are finding themselves unable to move quickly enough, as they first removed anti-nuclear activists who chained themselves to the rails, only to be stopped once more by protesters who had fixed themselves to cast concrete blocks on the track, which contained wires, chains and car tires within them.

This is set to be the last of 12 annual shipments of waste from the nuclear treatment plant in Normandy in France to Gorleben in Germany, which has been a traditonal focal point for protesters.

Some 20,000 German police officers have been mobilised to deal with the protesters, who have been setting up barricades along the paths of a nearby wood, as they try to reach the heavily defended rail line.

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