• Greenpeace activists unfurl banner calling for halt to EU-US TTIP trade deal
• Action follows on Greenpeace Netherlands’ leak of TTIP negotiation documents
Six high-rise climbers from Greenpeace España, the Spanish affiliate of international environmental NGO Greenpeace, scaled two-thirds of the way up one of the 114-metre-high Kio Towers in Madrid Tuesday, unfurling banners expressing the organisation’s opposition to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) accord, currently being negotiated between Europe and the United States.
The protest comes just two weeks after Greenpeace Netherlands released secret documents detailing the EU-US negotiations over the TTIP accord, which Greenpeace says will undermine European environmental safeguards, make climate protection more difficult, erode the ability of European regulators to take preventive measures against abuse of the terms of the trade deal, and pave the way to corporate takeover of the decision-making process in key areas that include health, safety, the environment and working conditions.
The protesters in Madrid on Tuesday ascended one of the twin Kio Towers, designed by the buildings’ architects as a symbolic Puerta a Europa (Gateway to Europe), unfurling banners reading NO al TTIP (NO to the TTIP) and remained aloft for 11 hours before descending voluntarily. The entire event was broadcast live on the Greenpeace España website and via social media and during the protest the organisation said it received 45,000 signatures to its petition calling for a halt to the TTIP negotiations.
► Read More in Spanish at Público and El Mundo …
► Read More in English at Reuters and Spanish News Today …
► Read or Download the Greenpeace TTIP-Leaks documents, here …
► ► CLICK ABOVE TO WATCH VIDEO OF GREENPEACE PROTEST ► ►
