Protests as whaling body holds London talks

AFP, March, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Anti-whaling protestors demonstrated in London on Thursday as the industry's global body opened talks aimed at breaking a bitter deadlock between pro- and anti-whaling groups.

One man was arrested after strapped himself to the front of Japan's embassy, while protestors also gathered outside the hotel where the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was beginning three days of informal talks.

"Stop the slaughter" and "Save the whales," read handmade posters held up by protestors outside the hotel near London Heathrow airport, where the talks are due to continue until Saturday.

The informal IWC meeting comes as Japanese whalers are locked in a struggle with conservation activists who threw acid at crew members of a ship participating in Japan's annual whale hunt in the Southern Ocean.

Japan was enraged by Monday's attack and said it would raise the incident at the meeting. Foreign Minister Masahiko ...