A dead whale was lying in front of the Japanese embassy in Berlin on Thursday after Greenpeace brought it to the German capital to protest Japanese whale hunting for scientific research.
The whale was brought to Berlin by the environmental group after it was found beached near Wismar on Germany’s Baltic coast on Saturday.
The 17m-long whale, which was between 10 and 20 years old, was lying in the snow under a banner stating: ”Science does not need harpoons.”
Greenpeace activists said the whale came from the North Atlantic and appeared to have beached after hunting for herrings and being trapped in shallow waters in the Baltic.
They plan to transport the whale to the maritime museum at Stralsund in north-eastern Germany where it is due to be dissected on Friday.
The Japanese embassy has refused to comment on the protest.
Greenpeace is leading an international campaign against whale hunting by the Japanese.
The International Whaling Commission imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986, but Japan has continued hunting for what it calls scientific research.
Japan, however, makes no secret of the fact that the meat from the hunt winds up on dinner plates. — Sapa-AFP