SIAK POLICE DETAIN 14 GREENPEACE ACTIVISTS

Siak, Riau Province, Nov. 25 (ANTARA) - Siak Police on Wednesday detained 14 Greenpeace activists who had blocked four cranes of a pulp mill in Perawang, Siak District, Riau Province.

The 14 activists currently being held at the Riau police head office included nine foreigners.

Of the four cranes, one was still blocked by four Greenpeace activists, while police personnel and managers of the pulp mill, PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper (IKPP), were negotiating.

The activists still blocking the crane were Frank Simon (German), Norika Maureen (Indonesian), Joel Catapong (Filipino) and Henriette (Dutch).

Frank Simon in response to ANTARA's question via a mobile phone said one policeman and eight security guards had climbed up the 40-meter-high crane and tried to ask them to come down.

"They wanted us to come down, but I just ignored them," Simon said.

Earlier this month, Riau immigration officers deported 13 Greenpeace activists and two foreign journalists.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace activists also blocked cranes in Kampar Peninsula, Riau, on Wednesday.

"With the critical UN Copenhagen Climate Summit just 12 days away, our activists took direct action today - blocking one of the world's largest pulp mills, owned by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), in the heart of Indonesia's rainforests," Greenpeace Southeast Asia said on its official website Wednesday in Kampar Peninsula, Riau.
Twelve activists locked down cranes at the giant paper plant's port and displayed banners that read: "Forest Destruction: You can stop this", urging world leaders to provide strong leadership to avert climate chaos and allocate the funds needed to end tropical deforestation as part of a fair, ambitious and legally
binding climate deal at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December.

APP's parent company, Sinar Mas, is a leading driver of global climate change due to its widespread role in forest destruction, the noted environmental NGO said.

The plant is fed with wood from one of the world's largest peatland forests, on the Kampar Peninsula in Sumatra, which stores up to 2 gigatonnes of carbon.