Austria eases nuclear protest

The Czech authorities say the Temelin plant is safe

Anti-nuclear demonstrators in Austria have begun easing their week-old blockade of their country's border with the Czech Republic.

The protesters are demanding that the Czech republic shut down the Soviet-designed, Temelin atomic plant which went into operation on Monday, just 50km across the border.

They began their action on Friday when an estimated 6,000 protesters blocked as many as 15 border crossings.

Unless Prague shows willingness to solve the problem of Temelin until Monday or Tuesday at the latest, the blockades will continue

Josef Puehringer, Environmental activist

Latest reports say their numbers have reduced considerably and that 12 of the crossings would be open by the end of Saturday.

But the largest protest, at the Wullowitz border crossing is set to continue until Sunday as dozens of protesters continue to block traffic along the border.

Stiff warning

Organisers have warned the Czech Republic that if concrete action is not taken by Tuesday, the protest would be renewed.

Organiser Josef Puehringer told the Czech news agency that this was by no means the end of their actions.

"Unless Prague shows willingness to solve the problem of Temelin until Monday or Tuesday at the latest, the blockades will continue," he said.

Joerg Haider says Austria will block EU membership for the Czech Republic

At the height of the protest, organisers used tractors and wooden barricades to erect roadblocks along the entire 570 km border.

On Saturday piped music was playing and the last litter from a rock concert, held the night before, was being cleared up.

Austria's Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has denounced the start-up of the controversial reactor as "wrong and alarming".

The far-right Austrian politician, Joerg Haider, visited the protesters and called on the Czech Republic to shut down the plant.

Mr Haider warned that the continued operation of the plant could harm the Czech Republic's proposed membership of the European Union.

"So long as the question of nuclear power plants is not resolved to satisfy our interests, there can be no membership for the Czech Republic," he told a group of 2,000 protesters at Wullowitz.

Mr Haider's Freedom Party took power in coalition with conservatives in February. The blockades at the Austrian-Czech border are tacitly supported by the Austrian Government.

Difficult mediation

The European Commission has been requested to mediate between Austria and the Czech Republic in an effort to resolve the worst diplomatic crisis between the two countries since the end of the cold war.

Protests have blocked traffic since Friday

The Czech Government says the Temelin plant meets EU standards.

Prague says that it will not discuss Austrian concerns about safety at Temelin until the blockades end.

The blockades have snarled traffic along key routes from eastern to western Europe and left dozens of trucks stranded.

The Czech Republic's eastern neighbours, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have backed Prague's demand for reopening the border.