Police, activists wounded in nuclear waste train clashes

German police and anti-nuclear protesters were injured in clashes Sunday, in which one woman was evacuated by helicopter as a nuclear waste train neared its destination.

“There were wounded on the side of the protesters as well as among the police but I cannot say how many,” said a police spokesman in Lueneburg, some 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the northwestern town of Dannenberg.

Dannenberg is the train’s final destination before the waste is loaded onto trucks and taken to a storage facility.

A female protester was wounded in nearby Harlingen by the horse of a mounted police officer, the spokesman said.

“She was treated on the spot then evacuated by helicopter to a nearby hospital. It appears she had her shoulder broken,” the spokesman said.

Carrying 123 tonnes of nuclear waste, the train left France on Friday. It was delayed in various spots along its route Sunday by anti-nuclear protesters.

Once in Dannenberg, the waste will be loaded onto lorries for the nearby storage facility of Gorleben, in central Germany.

The train is returning German nuclear waste that was treated in France by the Areva group but activists say the facility at Gorleben is not fit for storage.