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Environment: strong mobilization against the arrest of Paul Watson, the “whale defender”
Environment: strong mobilization against the arrest of Paul Watson, the “whale defender”
(France 2)
Paul Watson, the founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, has been fighting against whaling for many years. He was recently arrested in Greenland by the Danish police, as his boat had just docked.
Handcuffed, aboard his ship. Activist Paul Watson was taken on board by Danish police in a port in Greenland. Since Sunday, July 21, the arrest of the whale defender, founder of the NGO Sea Shepherd, has sparked many indignant reactions. In France, a petition is calling for his immediate release. It already has more than 330,000 signatories, including Pierre Niney, Stéphane Bern and the actor Pierre Richard, who believes that “Environmental defenders are heroes, not criminals”.
Since 2012, Paul Watson has been living under the threat of an international arrest warrant from Interpol, issued at the request of Japan. The country accuses him of his spectacular actions in Antarctica against Japanese whale hunters. These shock operations, on the edge of legality, have become the trademark of the activist and his NGO. “[Il] intervened to protect an international sanctuary, to prevent a hunt that is illegal”says Lamya Essemlali, president of Sea Shepherd France.
