Anti-Nuclear Rallies Fill French Cities

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2007/mar/17/031705399.html

RENNES, France (AP) - Tens of thousands of people filled the streets of five French cities Saturday to protest plans to build the next generation of nuclear reactors.

The simultaneous protests organized by Get Out Of Nuclear, a collective made up of hundreds of associations, was intended to raise the prominence of the issue in the run-up to April-May presidential elections. Smaller-party candidates resolutely opposed to the construction of new facilities called European pressurized-water reactors joined the protesters.

The nation must "get out of the nuclear business" and "invest in renewable energies like solar energy or wind power," said Olivier Besancenot of the Radical Communist League, marching with protesters in the western city of Rennes. Organizers claimed the number of protesters in Rennes was 30,000 to 40,000. Police estimated the crowd at 10,000.

There were also protests, with estimated crowds ranging from 4,000 to 9,000 people, in Lyon, Toulouse, Lille and Strasbourg.

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