Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a gate and six climbed a crane Monday at a South African coal-fired power station to protest dependence on coal, weeks before the country hosts a global conference on climate change.
Hours into the protest that started at dawn at the Kusile power station, police went up after the demonstrators who had climbed the crane. They arrested the six after persuading them to come down peacefully and safely, said police spokesman Leonard Hlathi. A seventh demonstrator who had not climbed the crane was also arrested inside the site.
The seven would face trespassing and possibly other charges, Hlathi said.
Melita Steele, a Greenpeace climate change expert, said earlier security guards cut the chain demonstrators had used to chain themselves to the gate.
Eskom, the state-owned power company, says it needs the Kusile plant because of rising electricity demand. It is expected to be completed in 2016. Another coal plant, called Medupi, is scheduled for completion in 2015. Eskom also has renewable projects planned.
Eskom's coal-powered electricity plants are the main source of greenhouse gas emissions by South Africa.
"Construction should be stopped and investment should be shifted to renewables," Steele said in a telephone interview.
Eskom spokeswoman Hillary Joffe said the utility agrees that South Africa should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and is moving toward green technology and cleaner coal. But she said South Africa also needs to develop, and that cheap coal is an important part of its energy mix.
Greenpeace argues that coal would not be considered cheap if the costs of pollution, health problems, water use and climate change are factored in.
The World Bank has approved $250 million in funding for to help Eskom build solar power and wind power plants, and approved a $3.75-billion loan to Eskom for the Medupi plant.
