Nuuk protesters block Greenpeace

A ship belonging to the environmental group Greenpeace hit rough political waters last month when it tried to dock at Greenland’s capital, Nuuk.

The ship, the Arctic Sunrise, was initially blocked from entering Nuuk’s harbour by a lone protester in a dinghy.

Then, when the ship came along the quay, young protesters hurled paint at the ship, altering its logo to “eenpeace.”

The demonstrators were protesting Greenpeace’s anti-sealing campaign, which in the 1980s helped devastate the commercial sealing industry for Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit.

The environmentalists were in Greenland to rally opposition to U.S. plans to upgrade an early-warning radar system at Thule as part of President George Bush’s controversial national missile-defense plan.

During the visit, Greenpeace requested to meet with Greenland Premier Jonathan Motzfeldt about the missile-defence issue, but he and his cabinet declined.

“We made it clear to Greenpeace that Greenland does not require help from Greenpeace in formulating a stand on the (missile-defence) question, and that we find it intolerable to be used as a country or a people in any organization’s campaigns,” said Mikaela Engell, the acting deputy minister of Greenland’s foreign affairs office.

Greenpeace’s website — www.greenpeace.org — provides daily updates of the Arctic Sunrise’s Greenland tour but makes no mention of the anti-Greenpeace protests.