press releases

Fifteen Greenpeace volunteers (including two from the UK), plus a freelance photographer from the UK and videographer from the US will appear in court in California later today (4.30pm GMT) as a result of the Greenpeace direct action against the latest 'Star Wars' missile test on Sunday morning. At this time it is not clear what charges they will face.

The court address is the Roybal Federal Buidling, 255 Temple St, Suite 3546, Los Angeles.

Vandenberg Airforce Base, Lompoc, California 12th July, 2001: Just 48 hours before George Bush's Star Wars missile test, the full might of the US military has been brought to bear on a single Greenpeace activist, camped out on a tiny Pacific island close to the launch pad of the "kill vehicle" of the Star Wars system.

Ten Greenpeace volunteers, including one from Britain, dodged coastguards, a helicopter and a navy vessel and breached security at the Vandenberg Airbase in California, to successfully delay the latest test Star Wars missile test by forty minutes. The test, the first of the Bush Administration, has since been declared a success by the Pentagon.

Twenty one major airlines [1], including British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, KLM and Sabena, have pledged to Greenpeace that they will not carry whale meat and blubber on their aircraft. All British airlines flying out of Oslo, Norway's principal airport, have joined the air blockade. The move comes during preparations by Norway to resume the export and sale of whale meat and blubber to Japan and two weeks before the International Whaling Commission meets in London.

Greenpeace volunteers ended the occupation of Menwith Hill spy base at 10.10pm, Wednesday 4th July by climbing down from the radio mast they had occupied for 15 hours. The descent came at the end of American Independence day. The two climbers gave themselves up to Ministry of Defence police.

Commenting on the end of the occupation, Greenpeace Star Wars campaigner Andy Tait said:

Four Greenpeace volunteers are maintaining the Greenpeace occupation of Menwith Hill spy base in Yorkshire as part of an international campaign to stop the United States' Star Wars (National Missile Defence) programme. The occupation began at 5.00am on Tuesday morning.

One volunteer has been sitting on top of a radio mast since last night while three others entered the base again at 6.45am this morning and climbed two other masts. All the volunteers are well equipped and carry adequate supplies.

At 5am, over one hundred Greenpeace volunteers from the UK, Denmark and the USA invaded Menwith Hill Spy base, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to expose the base's proposed role in President George W Bush's 'Star Wars' (National Missile Defence) system. They are currently occupying three areas within the high security site.

Leading environmental organisation Greenpeace has joined forces with international high street retailer, The Body Shop today, to challenge world governments to provide access to renewable energy for all within ten years, in particular the two billion people who live without any power.

Greenpeace today called on Japan to distance itself from the US position on climate change by clearly indicated that it would ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

With less than three weeks to go before crucial climate talks resume in the Hague, government representatives are conducting high-level 'informal' preparatory negotiations at a Dutch seaside resort near The Hague.

Greenpeace Climate Campaigner Stephanie Tunmore said

Greenpeace welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement today of an energy review but expressed concern that it could become a smokescreen to provide new subsidies to the nuclear industry. The Labour Party dropped its opposition to new nuclear power plants in its last manifesto.

Matthew Spencer, Head of the Climate and Energy Campaign at Greenpeace UK, said: