Anti-whaling protest staged at Japanese Embassy in London

Asian Political News, March 9, 2008

LONDON, March 6 Kyodo

An anti-whaling campaigner chained himself to the balcony of the Japanese Embassy in central London on Thursday morning in protest at ongoing Japanese whaling practices, which he described as ''illegal.''

Martin Wyness, who was previously arrested in January with his daughter after tying himself to a railing inside the embassy in a sit-in protest against whaling, scaled the front of the building at around 7.30 a.m.

In collaboration with the U.S.-based conservationist group Sea Shepherd, Wyness lowered the embassy's Japanese flag to half-mast and hoisted a large banner over the balcony which read, ''Japan Stop Your Illegal Whaling.''

The protest, which was confirmed as an official Sea Shepherd operation, was staged to coincide with the start of a three-day meeting of the International Whaling Commission currently taking place in Heathrow.

Wyness was later removed from his vantage point by British police and is understood to have been taken away for questioning. The banner was also removed and the Japanese flag was taken down as a security measure.

Speaking on behalf of Wyness, Sea Shepherd campaigner Sean Edwards told Kyodo News, ''The reason for this protest today, on the day of the IWC meeting, is in honor of the whales that the Japanese are illegally slaughtering in the Antarctic.''

Remarking on the embassy's closing of its large outer doors following the security breach, Edwards said, ''Sea Shepherd have succeeded in closing down the embassy in the same way that they have stopped illegal whaling operations recently by the Japanese in the Antarctic.''

Japan plans to kill 935 minke and 50 fin whales as part of what it describes as a scientific research program allowed under international rules despite a ban on commercial whaling.

Later in the morning, in what Edwards described as the ''second phase'' of the Sea Shepherd operation, another supporter of the group, 88-year-old Joan Court, managed to gain access to the embassy under the guise of obtaining a Japanese visa, shortly after the doors were reopened, and staged a sit-in protest.

Court's actions were short-lived, however, and she was removed from the building by police about 15 minutes later, but defiantly told reporters that she would continue participating in direct anti-whaling action until the Japanese stopped whaling.

A spokesperson for the Japanese Embassy confirmed that it was assisting the police in their investigations and described the incident as ''regrettable.''