Nuclear train death: "Strategy to scare us"
Göttingen anti-nuclear activists have reflected on the dangers of railway actions after a train killed one in France. The following was stated at a demonstration called by the AntiAtomPlenum Göttingen on 8 November, a day after Sébastien Briat died:
“Perhaps for many of us it became clear for the first time yesterday that it is not just a cat-and-mouse game we play, we have to play, every year.
”But the fatal accident in Avricourt did not come from nowhere. In earlier years it was a real danger, especially in the Wendland, to be so badly beaten up by cops you needed hospital treatment. Every time there were seriously injured demonstrators, men and women.
”And the danger of trains not braking in time was also always there. When the very first Castor train came people had to jump aside in Göttingen at the last moment. A year ago a train drove through burning barricades, despite advance warning by telephone that there were people on the rails.
”The priorities are to keep to the schedule, save costs and thereby cut down on safety. Every year the danger of an accident in nuclear waste transportation increases.
”Meanwhile there is no longer an advance train to check whether there are any obstacles on the track. Only one to two helicopters are still in the air, apparently blind, to spot larger obstacles of groups of people.
”And in Avricourt there was not even one helicopter. There were just two motorcycles driving ahead at at least 100km/h. The train was also running at this insane speed, perhaps the investigations will find that it was even faster.
”The strategy is: instil fear by unbraked, untrammelled amok driving. This concept is bound to include running over people and accept the deaths of people without qualms. The entire nuclear policy has for years been conducted with the same unscrupulousness.
”The 25 people who went on to the rails at the Leineberg in Göttingen and all other who tried would not be cowed. That does not mean that the death in France left them cold and that they are not aware of the danger. But the justified fear can also be turned into extreme caution and alertness. The blockade in Göttingen was secured in many different ways. Visual and acoustic signals were used to warn the train in time and it appears that a few minutes beforehand there was also a telephone call.
“That the train was stopped for 40 minutes was not due to the ‘cool heads’ of the police, but the perfect timing and determination of the male and female activists. The action was the best that could have happened to us and the anti-nuclear movement. Many thanks!”
(Translated by Diet Simon)
”But the fatal accident in Avricourt did not come from nowhere. In earlier years it was a real danger, especially in the Wendland, to be so badly beaten up by cops you needed hospital treatment. Every time there were seriously injured demonstrators, men and women.
”And the danger of trains not braking in time was also always there. When the very first Castor train came people had to jump aside in Göttingen at the last moment. A year ago a train drove through burning barricades, despite advance warning by telephone that there were people on the rails.
”The priorities are to keep to the schedule, save costs and thereby cut down on safety. Every year the danger of an accident in nuclear waste transportation increases.
”Meanwhile there is no longer an advance train to check whether there are any obstacles on the track. Only one to two helicopters are still in the air, apparently blind, to spot larger obstacles of groups of people.
”And in Avricourt there was not even one helicopter. There were just two motorcycles driving ahead at at least 100km/h. The train was also running at this insane speed, perhaps the investigations will find that it was even faster.
”The strategy is: instil fear by unbraked, untrammelled amok driving. This concept is bound to include running over people and accept the deaths of people without qualms. The entire nuclear policy has for years been conducted with the same unscrupulousness.
”The 25 people who went on to the rails at the Leineberg in Göttingen and all other who tried would not be cowed. That does not mean that the death in France left them cold and that they are not aware of the danger. But the justified fear can also be turned into extreme caution and alertness. The blockade in Göttingen was secured in many different ways. Visual and acoustic signals were used to warn the train in time and it appears that a few minutes beforehand there was also a telephone call.
“That the train was stopped for 40 minutes was not due to the ‘cool heads’ of the police, but the perfect timing and determination of the male and female activists. The action was the best that could have happened to us and the anti-nuclear movement. Many thanks!”
(Translated by Diet Simon)
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