Police expecting riots to greet next radioactive waste transport

The Federal Criminal Police (BKA) are also expecting specific acts of sabotage on the train lines on which the transport will travel, according to news magazine Focus, which quoted a confidential report from within the authority.

Compared with the last few years, a “considerably higher level of protest and increasingly readiness for violence” should be expected, the report says.

In particular, the growing influence of extreme left-wing groups can be seen on the citizens’ protest movement, reported Focus, adding that the involvement of the so-called Black Block group of violent left-wingers could not be ruled out.

More than 80 politically-motivated crimes have been recorded by the BKA in conjunction with the topic of nuclear energy – most were registered in Lower Saxony, with 53 cases, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, both of which recorded ten cases.

The cases ranged from verbal abuse and resisting arrest, to breaking the law on assembly, trespassing and even arson.

The public prosecutor in Lüneburg has already initiated around 500 investigations against nuclear power opponents, who have claimed responsibility for acts of sabotage against the rail line leading to the storage facility in Gorleben.

The next transport is due to leave the French port of La Hague en route to Gorleben on November 5.

DAPD/hc