Two Greenpeace members chained themselves to the fencing in front of the seat of government in central Bucharest while several others unfurled two banners reading “Nastase, save Rosia Montana,” in reference to Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. Greenpeace spokeswoman Ana-Maria Bogdan said the protestors were “brutally” dispersed by police.
“Before understanding what was happening, several dozen policemen intervened brutally to force us to leave the place and made us go down into the metro station” close by, Bogdan said.
The Greenpeace militants were then forced on to a metro train and authorised only to alight two stations further down the line. Each protestor was fined five million lei (around 125 euros).
“The Greenpeace protest was not authorised and the police intervened to restore order. There was no violence,” police spokesman Bogdan Onea told AFP.
The project of the Canadian firm Gabriel Ressources calls for extracting 300 tons of gold and 1,700 tons of silver from a 20-square-kilometre (eight-square-mile) area.
The project will see half of the local area destroyed and some 2,000 people forced to move from their homes as well as the removal of several churches and cemeteries, opponents point out.
Premier Nastase, among others, has voiced opposition to the mining project.