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Aussies Demand Whalers Release Eco-Warriors

Australian goverment moves to free men from belly of whaling ship

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 17, 2008 5:37 AM CST

(Newser) – An Australian customs ship is steaming on it way to pick up two protesters being held on board a Japanese whaling ship, where they were lashed to a railing, CNN reports. The activists were seized by the ship's crew Tuesday after they boarded to deliver a protest letter saying that the Yushin Maru was violating the law by killing whales. A video has been released showing the protesters bound on the ship.

"They were seized by the crew and assaulted," said the founder of the radical Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group. "They're being held hostage." The whalers say they tried to give the men back. The Australian government has urged restraint during the tense stand-off. A Sea Shepherd ship as well as a vessel operated by Greenpeace have been chasing the whaling fleet to disrupt a planned hunt for 1,000 whales in waters off Antarctica.

[Images (7)]

[Videos (2)]

In this photo released by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, two activists from the environmental group Sea Shepherd, second from right and fifth from right in red jacket, are detained on the Yushin Maru... (Associated Press)

In this photo released by The Institute of Cetacean Research, an activist from the environmental group Sea Shepherd prepares to hurl a butyric acid-containing bottle against the Japanese whaling vessel... (Associated Press)

In this photo released by The Institute of Cetacean Research, Briton Giles Lane, right, and Australian Benjamin Potts, the two activists from the environmental group Sea Shepherd are seen detained aboard... (Associated Press)

In this photo released by Greenpeace, The Yushin Maru, a Japanese whaling vessel cruises through the Antarctic Ocean, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008. A Greenpeace ship on Saturday confronted a Japanese whaling... (Associated Press)

In this photo released by The Institute of Cetacean Research, crew members of the Japanese whaling vessel Yushin Maru No. 2, spray water at activists from the environmental group Sea Shepherd as they... (Associated Press)

In this photo released by The Institute of Cetacean Research, Australian Benjamin Potts, left, drinks tea near Briton Giles Lane, right, as the two activists from the environmental group Sea Shepherd... (Associated Press)

In this photo released by the Sea Shepherd Soceity, Captain Paul Watson left, and Terri Irwin pose aboard the Steve Irwin ship at a dock in Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007. The radical... (Associated Press)

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Aussies Demand Whalers Release Eco-Warriors