Massive security operation protects nuclear convoy
A 60-ton shipment of nuclear waste that has provoked protests by environmentalists on its way across Germany has begun the last leg of its trip to a storage site.
The convoy, which is heavily guarded by police, began moving just after dawn from a rail terminal where the six containers were loaded overnight from a special train onto trucks.
The final 20-kilometre stretch to the Gorleben waste dump is a route considered especially vulnerable to protests.
Police in riot gear and on horseback lined the road, which runs through a thick forest.
Two small groups of demonstrators have waited near Gorleben for the shipment.
The final stretch by road was the scene of clashes between police and protesters during the last such shipment in 1997. To prevent a repeat, about 20,000 police are in action in Germany's biggest security operation in years.
Police have patrolled the area with night-vision equipment ahead of the shipment, which has been delayed a day by protesters who chained themselves to the tracks about 25 kilometres before the rail terminal.
"The road is being carefully protected and sentries will be posted along the whole length all night," said police spokesman Uwe Ruppe.
Cordons of helmeted, armed officers will be stationed at 50-metre intervals on either side of the road to keep demonstrators away, he said.
