Suspended sentence for antiwhaling activist protest scuffles

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=sv1cPVDb7oI

(7 Jul 2010) • 1. Pro-whaling group protesting outside Tokyo District Court, chanting (Japanese): We shall never succumb to the threat from the Sea Shepherd • 2. Pan of protesters • 3. Police outside court, pan to protesters • 4. Protesters holding banners and placards including pictures of anti-whaling activist and former Sea Shepherd member Peter Bethune • 5. Close of placard showing picture of Bethune, with slogan reading (English) Punish him heavily • 6. Pan from courthouse exterior to pro-whaling group protesting, police standing nearby • 7. Protesters and police • 8. Close of placard reading (English): Terrorist, Sea Shepherd • 9. Pan of pro-whaling group protesting outside court • 10. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Shuhei Nishimura, pro-whaling demonstrator: • The Tokyo District Court only demanded 2 years. That is too lenient and we cannot accept that. • 11. Pan up of Gary Thomason, Sea Shepherd member and friend of Bethune, chained to metal pole in front of the Japanese national police headquarters opposite court • 12. SOUNDBITE (English) Gary Thomason, Sea Shepherd member and friend of Bethune: • Well, the best outcome would be the prosecution's called for a two year sentence. We're hoping it would be suspended. • 13. Pan of Thomason surrounded by police, walking into the court • 14. Various of scuffle between pro-whaling demonstrators and police outside courthouse • 15. Mid of Thomason walking into court, escorted by police for his protection, raising his hand in the air and making victory sign, shouting (English): Free Pete! • STORYLINE: • Pro-whaling groups gathered outside a court in Tokyo on Wednesday as anti-whaling activist and former Sea Shepherd member Peter Bethune was given a suspended sentence for obstructing whaling. • More than 30 ultra-right wingers held placards and banners denouncing Bethune, who was convicted of obstructing Japanese whaling in the Antarctic, after climbing onto the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru 2 in February. • Bethune was also found guilty of assault for throwing bottles of rancid butter at the whalers aboard their ship, including one that broke and gave three Japanese crew members chemical burns. • The court sentenced the 45-year-old New Zealander to two years in prison, suspended for five years, meaning he won't be jailed. • Prosecutors had demanded Bethune serve two years in prison in the last trial session earlier this month. • Sea Shepherd member and Bethune's friend, Gary Thomason, chained himself to a metal pole in front of police headquarters across from court in support of his friend, before being escorted to court by police for his protection against the demonstrators. • Thomason shouted Free Pete! as he walked into the courthouse, as scuffles broke out between pro-whaling demonstrators and police outside. • Bethune admitted he climbed onto the Japanese whaling vessel from a Jet Ski, in what he said was an attempt to confront the ship's captain over the sinking of a protesters' vessel the previous month. • The former Sea Shepherd activist was arrested when the boat returned to Japan in March. • The US-based Sea Shepherd has been protesting Japan's research whaling for years, often engaging in scuffles with Japanese whalers. • The group claims the whaling mission is a cover for commercial hunting. • Japan, Norway and Iceland hunt whales under exceptions to a 1986 moratorium by the International Whaling Commission. • Japan's whaling programme also involves large-scale expeditions down to the Antarctic, while other whaling countries mostly stay along their coasts. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

#############################

New on site