Dutch police arrest 31 Greenpeace activists

Dutch police on Thursday detained 31 Greenpeace activists, including the captain of the lobby group’s ship Rainbow Warrior, as they attempted to prevent a Russian tanker from delivering Arctic oil from mooring at Rotterdam port.

The environmental group sent two ships, plus a fleet of rubber rafts, paragliders and activists to meet the Mikhail Ulyanov, a tanker chartered by Russia's state-controlled oil company, Gazprom OAO.

Activists painted the words "No Arctic Oil" in white letters on the hull of the Russian tanker and hung the same slogan on a giant canvas on one of their own ships. After several hours, the Ulyanov was able to dock safely.

Greenpeace opposes oil production inside the Arctic Circle, warning of the danger of a spill in a pristine and difficult-to-reach area - as well as the threat of worsening global warming caused by using fossil fuels.

Rotterdam police spokesman Roland Ekkers said Peter Willcox, the captain of the Rainbow Warrior, had disobeyed police orders to move his ship. Ultimately police arrested Willcox and towed the vessel to a different part of the port. A further 30 activists were detained for trespassing or blocking the Ulyanov's mooring place on rubber rafts.

“The captain has been arrested and the ship is being taken elsewhere else. Several activists climbed a fence to prevent the ship docking and several others were in small boats also trying to impede the tanker and several were arrested, around 30 activists," Eckers said.