USA: WASHINGTON: PRESIDENTS CHIRAC & CLINTON TARGETS OF PROTEST

Описание: (1 Feb 1996) English/Nat

French President Jacques Chirac may be receiving a warm state welcome from President Clinton, but the two Presidents were also the subject of protest.

About 150 members of the group Greenpeace have staged a rally in front of the White House, condemning the recent French nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

President Clinton and French President Jacques Chirac were the guests of honour at this protest staged by the anti-nuclear group Greenpeace.

While only appearing in effigy, both presidents were the subject of scorn by this group of more than 150.

The group marched to the White House, where Clinton and Chirac were meeting.

Their message was a demand for nuclear disarmament.

It's a message that Chirac today pledged France would work for, but only after completing a serious of controversial nuclear tests in the South Pacific.

Both the United States and France have signed a 120-nation promissory ban on nuclear testing, but the protestors say they won't rest until both countries live up to their promises.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Without us, without a world-wide movement, this simply would not have happened and there would never be a test ban. So we've now gotten closer to it than ever before. We've felt our power. We have the responsibility to keep that power up, to keep exerting it, to make sure that the test ban really comes about."
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Ellsberg, Physicians for Social Responsibility

France says it has finished its atomic testing program, but the United States is considering a series of tests in the Nevada desert.

For these protestors, the work will never be done until not just nuclear testing, but nuclear weapons themselves, are eliminated from the face of the Earth.

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