The activists, from the group Robin Wood, abseiled from a bridge over the river in the area of Bad Wimpfen on Wednesday, holding a banner which read “prevent rather than postpone.”
Their target was the first ever shipment of nuclear waste to be transported along a German river. The boat carrying the radioactive cargo left the disused nuclear facility at Obrigheim, Baden-Württemberg, on Wednesday morning.
“Specially trained police forces are on the way to the scene to get rid of the demonstrators,” a police spokesperson said.
The spokesperson confirmed that the boat had come to a stop near the bridge.
“But it is not directly there, you can’t see the bridge from the boat,” he said, adding that the demonstrators had been asked three times to put a stop to their unregistered demonstration.
“We will stay as long as it takes,” a spokesperson for the group countered.
The environment ministry in Baden-Württemberg claims that the transport is safe.
Measurements taken on the journey indicate things are running “without a problem,” the ministry stated.
The nuclear waste is being brought to a temporary storage facility 50 kilometres downstream. The journey should have taken roughly 12 hours.