Whaling protester says Japanese shot him

AFP, March, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) — The captain of a protest ship harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean said he was shot in a clash Friday and his crew members pelted with flash grenades, injuring one.

The captain of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship, Paul Watson, said he was shot in his bullet-proof vest, although Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Japan had informed him only warning devices were fired.

"What hit me was a bullet, it wasn't a flash grenade, we pulled it out of the vest," Watson told ABC radio.

He said the crew of the Steve Irwin was throwing stink bombs at the whaling ship the Nisshin Maru when coast guards posted on the Japanese vessel responded with flash grenades.

He said he felt a thud during the confrontation and later found a bullet lodged in his kevlar vest, which he said hit with enough force ...