Activist Protests Russia's Greenpeace Detentions On Eiffel Tower

A Greenpeace activist has staged a two-hour protest on the Eiffel Tower in Paris to protest Russia's detention of 30 Greenpeace activists.

The activist on October 26 suspended himself from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower and unveiled a banner with slogans "Free the Arctic 30" and "Militants In Prison, Climate In Danger," forcing French officials to temporarily close the monument.

Firemen finally removed the activist.

Twenty-eight Greenpeace activists and two journalists have been in a Russian detention center in the northern city of Murmansk after they tried to scale a Gazprom drilling platform off Russia's northern coast.

The activists were originally charged with piracy but earlier this week Russian authorities reduced the charge to hooliganism, which still carries a jail term of up to seven years if they are convicted.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP