Greenpeace members held after 'toxic ship' protest

New Delhi: Police detained around a dozen Greenpeace activists in New Delhi yesterday during a protest over the planned scrapping in an Indian yard of a French aircraft carrier they said contains tonnes of highly toxic material.

The environmental group, which organised the protest outside the French embassy, urged Paris and New Delhi not to allow the Clemenceau to reach a scrapyard in the western state of Gujarat without first being decontaminated in France.

Greenpeace says that vulnerable scrapyard workers in countries such as India risk developing serious health problems after handling toxic waste.

"We call upon the Indian Ministry of Environment to scrap their decision to allow this ship to come to India," Greenpeace campaigner Ramapati Kumar said, adding that India, unlike France, lacked the facilities to handle the ship safely.