Cassini protesters descend on Cape Canaveral

(U-WIRE) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - On Saturday afternoon, 1,000 protesters from around the world gathered at Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to voice their opposition to NASA's Oct. 13 Cassini space launch.

The Cassini spacecraft is set to launch from Cape Canaveral to study and photograph Saturn. Cassini is powered by 72.3 pounds of plutonium-238. Plutonium-238 is 238 times more toxic than the plutonium used in nuclear bombs.

Critics of the launch say that if a mishap occurs during the Cassini space launch, the plutonium could cause millions of cancer deaths over a period of decades.

Concerned protesters from all around the nation gathered to listen to speeches, music, and parade signs and banners on a field less than a quarter of a mile from the station. The diverse crowd included grandparents with lawn chairs, teen-agers and mothers wheeling their children in strollers.

"We might not change the world, but protest is the only force we have," said Nicole Lereau, a University of Miami student.

Speakers included Harvey Wasserman, from Greenpeace International; John LaForge, from Nukewatch; Michio Kaku, a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York; and Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at State University of New York.

In addressing the crowd, speakers expressed much distrust toward NASA.

"I was told by NASA that the likelihood of a Challenger accident was 1 in a 100,000," said Grossman. "None of us should believe these people. When the Challenger blew up, I started writing about NASA and found out they make up numbers."

Right now, the most frequently mentioned topic in letters to the White House is the Cassini launch, according to Grossman. But if the media gave more coverage to the dangers of Cassini there would be an even greater uproar, he added.

"Apparently, Clinton has given the go-ahead despite the global avalanche of requests to stop Cassini. And the environmental candidate Al Gore has done nothing," Grossman said. "People have to know what the U.S. government is up to."

The media finally did cover the protest on Saturday. Representatives of CNN, ABC and The Associated Press reported from Cape Canaveral.

Before the day was over, police arrested 27 protesters for attempting to climb the Cape4 Canaveral fence. The fence had brand-new, razor-sharp barbed wire and a one-hundred man security force, armed with tear gas and billy clubs, stood behind the fence.

As the day went by, protesters were faced with a choice. Demonstrators planned to climb the fence of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. But those participating in this act of civil disobedience could face a night in jail or a large fine.

"I'm damn nervous about climbing the fence," said Peg McIntire, the 84-year-old president of Grandparents for Peace. "I say a lot of people join organizations and are involved but I'm committed. It's an egg and ham omelet. The chicken is involved. The pig is committed."

Ultimately, 27 demonstrators climbed over the fence. McIntire was the first to climb. Jumpers were greeted on the other side of a fence by a police officer, one for each jumper. The police officers took them to a bus and sped them off to jail.

Protesters young and old marched to the fence. They chanted, "The people united will never be defeated," and "the world is watching."

The protesters who stayed on the legal side of the fence cheered the fence-hoppers and jeered the security in riot gear. They sang, danced and begged NASA to reconsider the Cassini project.

Critics of Cassini say the nuclear power could be substituted with solar power. NASA contends that the window for opportunity to explore Saturn will close if they need to completely redesign the probe to work on solar power.

"I was only 75 miles away from the Three Mile Island disaster so I'm anti-nuclear anything," said Ginger Raspiller, a protester from Coral Gables, Fla. "They have the technology to do it with solar power, and if they can't do it with solar power, they shouldn't do it with anything."

And nuclear power is not safe, although many would like to present it as such, said Jon Kerns, one of 20 protesters from Tallahassee.

"About 50 miles from Cape Canaveral I was trained to build nuclear weapons," Kerns said. "Then I was with the Navy in Italy when Chernobyl went off. The Soviets had all the safeguards too and now millions of Europeans have an increased cancer rate."

Organizations as diverse as Independent Traditional Seminole Nation, Grandparents for Peace and Greenpeace united to protest the launch.

"I'm a great-grandmother and I don't want strangers to poison my grandkids," said Elinor Hall, who drove from Orlando for the protest. "We have been uninformed and misinformed about Cassini. It's a science experiment and we're the guinea pigs."