GREENPEACE ACTIVIST SEVERELY BEATEN IN POWER PLANT PROTEST

Greenpeace says a German Greenpeace activist holding a peaceful protest against the Masinloc coal power plant outside Manila was horrendously beaten by local plant personnel and four other Greenpeace activists from New Zealand and the Philippines were also hurt.

German Jens Loewe, 36, was beaten and hit by a crowbar in the face and head while he was on the ground, Greenpeace said. Also badly beaten was Filipino activist Tomas Leonor, 24. An Agence France-Presse photographer at the scene said Loewe was repeatedly hit with a crowbar and was later carried away on a stretcher and taken to a hospital in Masinloc town. Others listed as injured were New Zealander Debra Gay Pristor, and Filipinas Pam Palma and Janine Mercado. They were also taken to hospital along with the other injured.

"Greenpeace condemns this violent attack to a peaceful protest," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia Energy Campaigner Red Constantino. "It is disproportionate to the nature of the protest which is peaceful, non violent protest. He commented further, "We're disappointed that the Filipino plant personnel prefers to protect the interests of a power plant that brings more harm than good to people. Coal is the culprit here, not peaceful protest."

"We were attempting to stage a peaceful protest in the Masinloc coal power plant when a number of ground personnel became very violent and began to throw stones," Constantino said. "Gunshots were also fired from rifles and one of our activists was repeatedly hit in the face and rammed with a steel bar while he was immobile on the ground," he said.

Greenpeace activists were at the plant to draw attention to Australian and Japanese backing of the expansion of climate changing coal dependency in Asia. "The Masinloc power plant displays the very worst excesses of the Philippine and Asian coal industry," said Constantino at the plant site. "Masinloc's environmental impact has never been publicly scrutinised and yet funds from organisations like the Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) are being earmarked for a 50% expansion of the plant's power capacity at a time when there is considerable controversy surrounding the financing of its privatisation sale. Worse still, it is primarily coal from Australia that will feed the planned expansion."

The National Power Corp. (Napocor), on the other hand, denied the claims of a violent scuffle taking place between the guards of the Masinloc coal-fired thermal power plant (MCFTPP) and the Greenpeace activists.

Seeming to somewhat contradict itself, Napocor justified the use of force claiming the power plant personnel and security guards had tried to prevent the illegal entry of the Greenpeace members even after some were able to enter into the highly-restricted area of the plant. Napocor said it deplored, “...the premeditated illegal intrusion" by Greenpeace activists, calling it "a stunt and a cheap shot at trying to attract attention at the expense of the public.” Napocor added, “The power plant is a high security risk area and its operations should be protected."

Greenpeace’s Constantino said, "Burning coal is the main cause of global warming. Australia and Japan are underwriting climate change at a time when the Philippines and Asia are facing the likelihood of devastating social and economic instability from climate change precisely when the country and the rest of Asia are least able to deal with its impacts. The expansion of coal in the Philippines and Asia must stop. Greenpeace calls on the Philippine Senate for an inquiry into Masinloc's expansion plans.”

"It is no surprise that countries like Australia refuse to join the Kyoto Protocol and then talk of secret climate pacts," said Greenpeace International's Athena Ronquillo on-board the Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior. "It is the world's biggest coal exporter, it has Asia on an addictive drip of climate changing coal and it plays dirty," said Greenpeace International's Athena Ronquillo. "Japan is equally as hypocritical. It is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol yet continues to be far and away the biggest funder of dirty energy projects in Asia."

Greenpeace points out that clean alternatives to fossil fuel power in Asia are widely available. In the Philippines enough wind power potential exists to produce 7 times over the country's current energy demand. In the Chinese province of Guangdong there exists sufficient wind power potential to meet the equivalent of the current energy supply in Hong Kong.

"Time is not on our side. We have to cut global greenhouse emissions by at least half by the middle of this century to avoid catastrophic climate change. That means that global emissions must peak within the next 10-15 years, not 25 or 30 years from now," concluded Ronquillo. Sources: Greenpeace International, The Philippine Star M and C News, Philippine Daily Inquirer