Greenpeace to dump garbage at Delhi French mission

NEW DELHI - Environmental group Greenpeace said today it would dump rubbish outside the French embassy in New Delhi to protest against a decommissioned French warship which is on its way to India for scrapping.

The group says the 27,000-tonne ship, Clemenceau, is laden with hundreds of tonnes of hazardous materials, including 500 tonnes of toxic asbestos which could pose a risk to the health of scrap workers.

"We will dump garbage outside the French embassy to tell them India is not a place to dump their garbage. Take your garbage back,"  said Vinuta Gopal, a Greenpeace campaigner.

She said university students were collecting pieces of paper, soft drink bottles and leaves which would be dumped outside the heavily-protected embassy compound.

Gopal gave no date for the action but said an announcement would be made in advance.

There was no immediate comment from the French embassy.

The aircraft carrier left France in December for the Alang ship-breaking yard in western India amid protests by Greenpeace.

Last month, India's Supreme Court barred the ship from entering the country's waters until a report by a team of environment experts.

A two-judge bench said it would make a final decision on Feb. 13 -- after examining a report by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Wastes.

French authorities have said the most dangerous work -- the removal of 115 tonnes of brittle asbestos -- had been carried out in France and the remaining 45 tonnes of asbestos had to be kept in place to keep the ship seaworthy on its final journey.

The vessel is currently en route to India after being delayed before it could enter the Suez Canal.

It could resume its journey only after Egypt said it faced no environmental threat from the warship's passage through the canal and gave it permission to proceed.

In a separate statement, India's main trade unions said they too would protest against Clemenceau, although they did not give details of what action they would take.

"A cocktail of toxic chemicals, including asbestos ... are present in the structure of Clemenceau, which will expose our workers who will dismantle the ship," the unions said.

"We are concerned about their safety and health. We, therefore, demand Clemenceau be first decommissioned in France ... before it is allowed entry into Indian waters."

- REUTERS