Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Sea Shepherd: Japanese Scramble to Spin Shooting Story

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society | 07.03.2008 11:48 | Animal Liberation | Ecology | World

In the aftermath of a confrontation between the crew of the whaling ship Nisshin Maru and the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin, the Japanese public relations flacks are working overtime to get the spin right. First, they admitted that warning shots were fired, then they corrected themselves and said that only flash grenades were fired at the crew of the Steve Irwin. Then they changed the story again and described the flash grenades as “warning balls.” By tomorrow morning, they may have it spun it again and may be describing them as “marshmallows.”

The Japanese Coast Guard and the Japanese Fisheries Agency have stated to the media that the devices were flash grenades and that warning shots were fired. Only the Institute for Cetacean Research is denying that warning shots were fired and describing the flash grenades as “warning balls.”

“I think the video tells the story,” said Sea Shepherd volunteer Laurens De Groot, a former police officer from Rotterdam. “I’m familiar with the devices thrown. They are the type of flash grenade that specially trained SWAT teams used to combat armed and dangerous criminals.”

The Japanese claim that Captain Paul Watson is lying about being shot was expected. When Giles Lane and Benjamin Potts were tied to the mast of the Yusshin Maru No. 2, the Institute for Cetacean Research claimed it was a lie until the video images were released.

Dr. David Page, the ship’s medical officer, has examined and verified that there were three injuries sustained, all severe bruises. Ralph Lowe from Melbourne was bruised on the back by an exploding flash grenade, and Animal Planet cameraman Ashley Dunn from Launceston, Tasmania injured his hip while trying to avoid a flash grenade. Captain Watson has a large bruise and a cut on the upper left side of his chest.

Dr. Page pried a bullet from Captain Watson’s Kevlar vest and examined the bruise where the bullet impacted. Watson’s Sea Shepherd anti-poaching badge took up some of the force of the impact, but it also cut the skin beneath after it was mangled by the bullet.
Japan claims there were only two Coast Guard officers on the Nisshin Maru, but Sea Shepherd photos and videos clearly show at least four uniformed Coast Guardsmen.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura was quoted as saying to the media, “Is it all right to hurt humans in order to protect whales? I think whales are cute and important creatures, but even so, hurting humans is unforgivable."

That is quite the spin--accusing Sea Shepherd crew, who did not injure anyone, of hurting humans after Japanese whalers and the Coast Guard deliberately injured human beings to protect an illegal whaling operation.

The Japanese Coast Guard admitted to the media only a few days ago that its officers were armed with rifles and sidearms. Now they are denying they have rifles.

The Japanese keep changing their story.

The most important fact remains that the Japanese whaling fleet is illegally killing endangered whales in a whale sanctuary in violation of international law and an Australian Federal Court order.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
- Homepage: http://www.seashepherd.org/

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. it's about time — whalewatcher
  2. Capt. Paul Watson shot by Japanese Whaling poachers — Cris

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech