Castor transport to Gorleben 2010

Shortcut to this page: http://castor2010.nuclear-heritage.net

support the Dalle blockade activists - criminal cases have been opened as of March 2012!
 * 6. Nov: Opening Demonstration in Dannenberg
 * Afterwards: Several actions

CASTOR TICKER English  | Fulda valley bridge action | Dalle lock-on blockade

In November 2010 the 12th so-called "Castor transport" of high level radioactive waste was shipped from the plutonium factory La Hague in France to a temporary repository in Gorleben, federal state of Lower Saxony. 11 Containers with a radioactivity of 40 Hiroshima bombs each were part of this shipment. It was the next to last transport of the supposed high level radioactive Castor transports from France to Germany. In 2005 the shipments of nuclear waste from Germany to the so-called "reprocessing units" (factories to extract plutonium from the high level radioactive waste for further usage in atomic bombs or in MOX fuel elements) was forbidden. A bilateral agreement had been fixed about the amount of radioactive waste to bring back to Germany.

Before the Castor train started to Germany the containers were brought to Valogne. There the shipment started on November 5th. There were several blockades in France and finally the French police sent the transport on a new route that wasn't part of the original plans or alternative routes. Obviously they wanted to avoid the blockades of castor opponents and risked to use a new route that had not been prepared for the transport.

The border to Germany was supposed to be crossed at Lauterbourg. There was a huge blockade of about 2,000 activists on the tracks near to the village of Berg. The police tried to remove people from the tracks but gave up soon, because it would have taken to much time. The transport was sent back a certain distance and tried another passage using another route now. Also in Germany many blockades and actions took part and caused a long delay of the transport schedule. In Dalle near Celle a group of activists delayed the Castor shipment for some three hours when three activists had been locked-on at the tracks with tubes.

After reaching the train station in Lüneburg the transport had to pass an area of some 40 kilometers to Dannenberg. This connection was only in usage for the Castor transport during these days, and since many years it is one of the main action fields for the anti-nuclear resistance at Castor transports. This year two main actions with several thousands of activists took part on the tracks: "Castor? Schottern!" and "Widersetzen". Widersetzen is a non-violent sit-in blockade organized by local activists of the Wendland region. Castor Schottern intended to remove gravel from the tracks to make them unusable for the Castor transport. It was organized by a wide alliance of organizations and individuals and with support by popular persons. Anyway, it was the target of heavy attempts of criminalization by police and of violence by the state forces.

In Dannenberg the transport had to be reloaded from the train to trucks. This took about ten hours - originally the police had planned to send the shipment directly afterwards on the road to the repository in Gorleben, some 20 kilometers away. But there was a successful blockade by Greenpeace with a truck in front of the train station on a road the transport had to pass. Several activists had locked-on themselves to a concrete pyramide inside the truck that had been let down through the floor of the truck onto the road and was fixed to the asphalt. The police needed more then half a day to figure out the construction of the blockade and to remove the activists.

At the same time several other blockades of the two transport roads and support roads for the police had taken place - mostly realized by tractors of local farmers. In Gorleben in front of the temporary repository another big sit-in blockade of several thousands of activists took place since Sunday morning, organized by the non-violent campaign "X1000mal quer". The police started to take them away on Monday morning at half past three and needed more than three hours to clear the road. Afterwards the road transport started from Dannenberg to Gorleben, accompanied by several other actions that were not able to interrupt the transport again.

Alltogether some 25,000 activists had blockaded the Castor transport according to the police and some 20,000 officers were in operation to protect the shipment of the nuclear industry. The police treated activists especially on the tracks with much violence and injured some 1,000 persons with pepper spray, horses, by beating and other means. At the same time a few dozen police officers were - according to the police - injured by anti-castor activists.

Announcement
The CASTOR is a nuclear waste train from the nuclear reprocessing plant in La Hague (France) to the storage facility in Gorleben (Germany).

There will be a big opening demonstration in Dannenberg on the 6th November and several actions of civil disobedience on the following days. The nuclear transports to Gorleben always have been a key event for the German anti-nuclear and direct action movement. The protest has a lot of support from the local people.

You find the English translation of the Mobilisation Call against the CASTOR transport here.

Come to Gorleben and join us!

International guests can APPLY FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to cover traveling expenses. Please send your request with the approximate amount (we try to cover max. 200 Euros) to [mailto:littleblacknemoATriseup.net littleblacknemo AT riseup.net].

When
According to investigations, the transport is supposed to start in La Hague on the 5th November and will arrive in the Wendland (the area around Gorleben) on the 7th. The transport is expected to be delayed heavily by protest actions.

Location
Gorleben is in the Wendland, an area in the north of Germany near Lüneburg. Most of the actions happen there, the nuclear waste will be transported on a train between Lüneburg and Dannenberg (approx. 50 km) and then changes to lorries. From there, it will be transported on the roads (approx. 30 km) to its destination in Gorleben.

Local contact
There will be direct contact to the organizers of the camp in Splietau, who are prepared for supporting international visitors - an email address and one week before the transport also a mobile phone number.


 * email: [mailto:camp.splietauATcastor2010.de camp.splietau AT castor2010.de]
 * phone: +49 1525 3639370

Nuclear Heritage Network contact
The Nuclear Heritage Network as an informal network of international activists will help to connect each other as in other anti-nuclear events, too. Here are contact information to be used especially during the days before the transport starts. When it will have started in France on November 5, it will probably not be possible anymore to follow emails, and maybe also the phone won't be online always. So please try also the local (Splietau camp) contacts after November 5.


 * email: [mailto:contactATnuclear-heritage.net contact AT nuclear-heritage.net]
 * phone: +358 41 7243254

Accommodation
General reception point for international guests will be at the camp in Splietau, close to Dannenberg. It is the same location where the big opening demonstration will take place.

Unless you have contacts elsewhere, we advise you to come here.


 * Contact phone number for international guests at camp Splietau is: published soon (English/German spoken).

Here you will find several big tents to sleep, as well as a camp ground to set up your own tent. From Splietau you can explore the different forms of protest. Camp organisers at the info point are willing to help you to find your way around. A communal kitchen will provide warm food and drink.

'''Important: Please bring a sleeping bag and a sleeping mattress or get in touch with your German contacts to organise these for you! We cannot provide sleeping blankets and mattresses!'''

Remember: it is likely to become VERY cold, so bring warm, weatherproof clothes.

Besides Splietau there are a number of other camps where you can stay, some of them connect to a specific form of action. It is usually no problem to find a place to stay during the action days. The info points in Dannenberg and Splietau will help you finding a private accommodation.

Other camps along the transport route are in:


 * Köhlingen
 * Metzingen
 * Hitzacker (Widersetzen, Castor wegbassen)
 * Splietau (Bürgerinitiative Umweltschutz Lüchow-Dannenberg, Contratom, Endlagerstandorte Braunschweiger Land)
 * Langendorf (German Social Democratic Party -SPD-)
 * between Gusborn and Quickborn (Bäuerliche Notgemeinschaft)
 * Gedelitz (X-tausendmalquer)

Info points can be found in:


 * Metzingen
 * Hitzacker
 * Dannenberg
 * Splietau
 * Langendorf
 * Laase
 * Gorleben

Overview map

Actions
The protest in the Wendland is always very diverse ‒ there will be very different kinds of actions.

Atomkraft/Castor Wegbassen
This idea of action comes from different groups and sound collectives connected in the Hedonistic International (HI). Equipped with mobile sound systems they plan to block the CASTOR transport by masses of dancing people. official webpage

Schottern
People plan a mass action to remove the rail track ballast rocks.

Call for the Schottern action +++ english article 16/10/10


 * ticker German
 * video: police violence against castor activists

Widersetzen
Widersetzen will attempt to block the rail tracks by massive, peaceful sit-ins. Meeting point is at the camp in Hitzacker. official webpage
 * video German

X-tausend mal quer
As always, the initiative x-tausend mal quer plans a mass sit-in blockade on the street to Gorleben.

Südblockade - Southern Blockade
A huge mass action took place in Berg nearby the French border. Several thousands of people protested against the nuclear waste transport and entered the tracks to blockade the shipment. The police started to remove the people, but finally decided to send the high level radioactive transport back for a certain distance and to use another place to pass the border. It was the biggest anti-Castor blockade in southern Germany ever.


 * video German

Links
more information:
 * Brochure with information about the 2010 Castor protests
 * German Info site German
 * info on ContrAtom.de German
 * Facebook event German/English
 * Facebook group German/English
 * Overview: websites about the Castor transport German
 * French website about the Castor transport 2010 French
 * learn more about the 2008 transport on this website

Materials

 * Press releases of the police about the Castor transport
 * http://www.taz.de/index.php?id=bildergalerie&tx_gooffotoboek_pi1[fid]=1&tx_gooffotoboek_pi1[srcdir]=Castor-2010&tx_gooffotoboek_pi1[func]=combine&cHash=7ccc4193ab#c173 - photos of the Castor transport on taz.de German
 * Castorticker German
 * good ticker on taz.de German
 * another Castor ticker German
 * PRESS RELEASE about the police attacks causing a climbing activist falling down from high level German
 * probably illegal participation of French police in Germany on the tracks close to Gorleben - they were seen to use violence against protesters, although they legally could only have been observers French
 * press releases by the French anti-nuclear network "Réseau Sortir du Nucléaire":
 * French
 * German
 * media coverage:
 * Französischer Polizist beim Castor - Illegaler Einsatz im Wendland? November 11, 2010 German
 * Französischer Polizist beim Castor - Ministerium vernebelt Prügeleinsatz November 11, 2010 German
 * Verdacht auf Einsatz französischer Polizisten im Wendland November 11, 2010 German
 * German military involved to Castor operations? - authorities admitted a tornado aircraft operation and the operation of a tank in the Wendland region during the Castor protests. Allegedly it was just practice operation, no official action against protesters or to support the police. November 12, 2010 German
 * Castor Transport jeb nukleārās kaislības Latvian

Info point Essowiese
Several camps and info points were provided by a number of organizations and action groups in the Wendland region. One of them was the info point Essowiese in Dannenberg. It was organized by the "BI Lüchow-Dannenberg" (Local citizens' initiative Lüchow-Dannenberg).

Soft toys' rally
This art action was shown on a table at the Essowiese info point in Dannenberg. It was a creative rally of soft toys with banners and slogans refering to the Castor resistance.

More images:
 * Fulda valley bridge action