Saturday, 14 October, 2000, 08:36 GMT 09:36 UK
Austrian anti-nuclear protests continue
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_963000/963826.stm

Austrian environmentalists protesting against a nuclear power station in the neighbouring Czech Republic have continued to blockade the border between the two countries.

However, the BBC correspondent in Austria says there are now only a couple of hundred protesters, down from several thousand on Friday.

The far-right Austrian politician, Joerg Haider, visited the protestors and called on the Czech government to shut down the plant at Temelin because of concerns about its safety.

The Czechs say they have asked the European Union to intervene to stop the protests.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

VIENNA, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Austrian protesters blocked all 15 border crossings to the Czech Republic on Friday, the fifth straight day of demonstrations against a Czech nuclear plant which Austria fears is unsafe.

Economics Minister Martin Bartenstein announced an immediate ban on electricity imports from the Czech Republic to ``send a clear signal to the Prague government.'' Speaking on state television, he did not say how much energy was involved.

An estimated 7,000 opponents of the Temelin plant, which lies about 30 miles (50 km) from the border, gathered at the Wullowitz crossing in the province of Upper Austria. Among them were far right leader Joerg Haider and local politicians.

``More buses are arriving by the minute,'' a police spokesman said. The entire 570-km (350-mile) border would remain closed to road traffic at least until midnight (1000 GMT), he added.

Anti-nuclear Austria is angry that the Czech Republic started up the Soviet-designed Temelin plant on Monday despite calls for further safety checks. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has said he will raise the issue at a European Union summit this weekend.

The Czech government says Temelin meets EU standards and wants the European Commission to intervene to stop the blockades, which have snarled traffic along key routes from eastern to western Europe and stranded dozens of trucks.

Czech President Milos Zeman reproached the protesters for ``adolescent behaviour,'' Austria's APA news agency reported. He reminded them that Austria's border with the Czech Republic was also the European Union's outer frontier.

CZECH NEIGHBOURS WANT BLOCKADE LIFTED

The Czech Republic's eastern neighbours, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, backed Prague's demand for reopening the border at a meeting of the Visegrad group of countries in the western Czech town of Karlovy Vary on Friday.

``Regardless of the core of the matter discussed by Austria and the Czech Republic, we all agreed that blockades, paralysing personal freedom of movement and economic relations, cannot solve any kind of problem,'' Hungarian premier Viktor Orban said.

Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek complained that the blockade had affected Polish transport companies.

Organisers of the Wullowitz rally erected a stage across the highway, and protesters made roadblocks out of tractors, wooden barricades and banners.

There were smaller protests at the other 14 crossings. Only rail traffic and pedestrians were able to get through, the police said.

They expected some border crossings in the province of Lower Austria to reopen to cars and trucks on Saturday. In neighbouring Upper Austria, protesters said they would stay put until Sunday evening.

Average daily traffic flows have been cut from about 17,000 people to hundreds because of the protest. The Czech government has said losses as a result of the border blockade will be assessed.

14:54 10-13-00