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Japanese whalers seize British protester and tie him to harpoon ship
The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | January 15, 2008 | RICHARD SHEARS

Posted on 01/15/2008 7:43:41 PM PST by Stoat

Japanese whalers seize British protester and tie him to harpoon ship

By RICHARD SHEARS - More by this author » Last updated at 23:00pm on 15th January 2008

This is the moment a British anti-whaling activist was taken captive on a Japanese harpoon ship.


Giles Lane appears to be crying out in pain as the sailors surround him and bind him.

In the dramatic pictures his companion, an Australian, is wrapped around with rope and seems powerless to help.

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Captured: Giles Lane, left, appears to cry out while his Australian companion (right) looks on

Colleagues of the pair in the Sea Shepherd marine protection organisation claim they were later tied to the radar mast in the freezing cold as the vessel sped from the area in the Antarctic.

"They have assaulted and kidnapped two of my crew," said Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin.

The Japanese Whaling Association last night denied the men had been tied to the mast, but admitted they were being held on board the Yushin Maru.

A spokesman claimed that Mr Lane, 36, from Cuckfield, in West Sussex, and Australian Benjamin Potts had boarded the ship illegally and intended to entangle the vessel's propellers with rope and throw bottles of acid on the decks.

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Sea spray: The Yushin Maru crew turn a high pressure hose on the men as they approach

The sensational confrontation came hours after an Australian court banned Japan from whaling in its Antarctic waters.

The ruling applies to a sanctuary declared by Australia in 2000 - which Japan does not recognise.

Some of its ships are already in the area for a planned cull of 1,000 fin and minke whales for "scientific research".

When crew members on board the Steve Irwin learned of the judgment they clapped and cheered, then tried to send a radio message to a fleet they had been shadowing for three days.

The Japanese failed to respond, so Captain Watson decided to send Mr Lane and Mr Potts to one of the ships, the Yushin Maru, to deliver a letter outlining the judgment and demanding that the whaling stop immediately.

First the sailors turned high-pressure hoses on them. And Captain Watson said that as soon as the two men boarded the ship by clambering up a ladder the Japanese set upon them.

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Whaling

Illegal: Japanese whalers have been banned from hunting in Australian waters by a court judgment

"First of all they tried to throw Benjamin Potts overboard, but he managed to get his way out of that," he said.

"Then they assaulted Giles Lane. He seems to be in some pain.

"They tied him up with an incredible number of ropes. It looks like some kind of bondage movie. It's ridiculous."

There are concerns now for the safety of the two men in the freezing conditions.

In Tokyo last night, Makoto Ito, spokesman for the Japanese Whaling Association denied they had been tied to a mast.

"It is illegal to board another country's vessels on the high seas. As a result, at this stage, they are being held in custody while decisions are made on their future," he said.

"This is just propaganda by Sea Shepherd," he added. "I believe the two men are on the boat but we cannot give further details at this time.

"Sea Shepherd has been harassing our research vessels, but no one is bound to the mast of the Yushin Maru."

There are also concerns that more serious confrontations will occur in coming days when an Australian government vessel arrives in the area.

The converted cruise liner has a number of weapons on board - and environmentalists believe it will try to drive the Japanese out.


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Japan; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: australia; enviroweenies; greenpeace; japan; protesters; seashepherd; sodoffswampy; terrorism; terrorists; waronterror; whalers; whaling
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To: Stoat
Caught in the act of piracy against a Japanese vessel?

They are lucky they weren't used for katana practice or turned into bait.

21 posted on 01/15/2008 8:09:12 PM PST by Centurion2000 (It's only arrogance if you can't back it up.)
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To: GovernmentShrinker
It’s not irrelevant that the Japanese ship is there in violation of Australian law, and also flagrantly lying about the purpose of the mission (putting them in violation of International Whaling Commission rules). “Scientific research” — what a crock. They are slaughtering wildlife, some of it endangered, to sell to restaurants back home for money. I don’t recognize the right of sovereign nations to roam all over the globe wiping out any species they feel like wiping out.

Tears leaketh from ny eyes.

22 posted on 01/15/2008 8:11:28 PM PST by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: Stoat

Are cry-baby pussies on any sort of endangered list?

23 posted on 01/15/2008 8:13:31 PM PST by dead (I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar.)
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To: MinuteGal
Yep, those two are actual Greenfece samples.

Remember, boys and girls, "Save the whales and f*** the humans" is not a derogatory stereotype. They actually view life in that way.

24 posted on 01/15/2008 8:16:25 PM PST by JoJo Gunn (Help control the Leftist population. Have them spayed or neutered. ©)
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To: sinanju; GovernmentShrinker
If you can’t stand the thought of whales being eaten, come right out and say so.

Pretty much everything Japan eats is tied to the sea. It’s not like they have broad, rolling pastures filled with herds of cattle.

Beef. It’s what Japan calls Whale.

25 posted on 01/15/2008 8:18:25 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: skinkinthegrass
Ahhhhhgrrr!....this kind treatment befits a pirate....e' lucky, in the past, 'e would've swung at the end of a rope!

Agreed....and in these modern times, any vessel should be expected to repel boarders with lethal means, considering the ongoing worldwide terrorist threat.  These twits are lucky to be alive.


26 posted on 01/15/2008 8:19:02 PM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: Stoat

No matter how many times I see that pic of the jacka$$ crying, it still cracks me up.


27 posted on 01/15/2008 8:23:20 PM PST by Laptop_Ron (It takes a villager to raze a village)
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To: Grizzled Bear

It’s one thing to hunt animals for food (humanely, which is often not the case with whaling), but another thing entirely to hunt endangered species for profitable status-symbol delicacies. These species are not Japan’s private property. If they can figure out a way to raise and hunt whales in their own waters, I’d have no objection.


28 posted on 01/15/2008 8:25:25 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: RDTF
ok - this really cracked me up!

Hopefully President Bush is on the phone with PM Fukuda, offering his congratulations and good wishes to the Captain and crew  :-)

 

29 posted on 01/15/2008 8:28:31 PM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: arderkrag
BWAHAHA!!!

:-)

30 posted on 01/15/2008 8:34:02 PM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: RDTF

That commercial for garbage bags jumped into my head when I saw the picture. “Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy.”


31 posted on 01/15/2008 8:35:44 PM PST by tiki (True Christians will not deliberately slander or misrepresent others or their beliefs)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

I’m with you. I’m of the firm opinion that if it weren’t for these sorts of protests, the great whales would have been wiped out decades ago.


32 posted on 01/15/2008 8:36:12 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: Chode
Image hosted by Photobucket.com
and the RATS, take another one in the...............HA ha!!!

It's always so delightful when this sort of thing happens....savoring the moment   :-)

33 posted on 01/15/2008 8:36:52 PM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: GovernmentShrinker
It’s not irrelevant that the Japanese ship is there in violation of Australian law, and also flagrantly lying about the purpose of the mission (putting them in violation of International Whaling Commission rules). “Scientific research” — what a crock. They are slaughtering wildlife, some of it endangered, to sell to restaurants back home for money. I don’t recognize the right of sovereign nations to roam all over the globe wiping out any species they feel like wiping out.

No one has said a word about it being irrelevant, and nobody is suggesting that the ship was not in violation of the law.

But this gang of hippies was not officially empowered by Australia or any other Government to enforce it's laws.

Australia has quite an effective and impressive Navy and armed forces which are delighted to deal with such matters, and that's whom the matter should have been left to, if the Australian Government had deemed it necessary.

This was nothing more than a reckless, juvenile vigilante action and these 'protesters' (terrorists, actually) are quite lucky to be alive.

They most certainly would not be if I had been Captain of that ship.

The USS Cole fades from the memory of some, but not for me.

34 posted on 01/15/2008 8:44:28 PM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: Stoat

“But this gang of hippies was not officially empowered by Australia or any other Government to enforce it’s laws.”

And you don’t enforce the laws with ropes and acid either.


35 posted on 01/15/2008 8:48:39 PM PST by Laptop_Ron (It takes a villager to raze a village)
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To: Laptop_Ron
"Ropes and acid? Act like an idiot, get treated like one."

Typical of green weenies. Protect any animal at any cost. Even at the expense of human life.

I would have tossed them overboard.

36 posted on 01/15/2008 8:50:59 PM PST by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: GovernmentShrinker
These species are not Japan’s private property.

nor are they Australia’s.

Personally, I would tell ozland to pound sand.

Such things are settled by mutual treaties and if the Japanese are not so willing then its too bad.

Australia doesn’t own the Antarctic high seas either, no matter what their courts say.

37 posted on 01/15/2008 8:58:45 PM PST by bill1952 (The right to buy weapons is the right to be free)
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To: sinanju

Fin whales are certainly endangered. There are different types of minke whales, but the relatively abundant population of the most common ones is only due to the whaling restrictions being observed by most countries. In the 1970s, Japan, in addition to its won huge scale whaling, was also secretly buying whale meat from the Soviets, who were lying about their catch numbers in their reports to the IWC, so they could rake in more cash to try to save their sputtering Marxist pseudo-paradise. Last year, the Japanese also announced their intention to hunt humpback whales in the southern sanctuary area, though I think they eventually backed off from that under extreme pressure from the Australian government and IWC. The Japanese behavior with regard to whaling has simply been dishonorable.


38 posted on 01/15/2008 9:01:32 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: GovernmentShrinker

The US also does not recognize Antarctic territorial claims so your rant is meaningless. Sea Shepard are terrorists and YOU seem to be supporting them.


39 posted on 01/15/2008 9:02:18 PM PST by packrat35 (Politicians would be less worthless if they were edible, or useable for packing wheel bearings.)
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To: I see my hands
Probably trying to impress some chick with spectacular cleavage

I think that it's safe to say that chicks with spectacular cleavage have been at least an ancillary factor in numerous world conflicts throughout the centuries   :-)

40 posted on 01/15/2008 9:04:05 PM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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