Recalling The Sinking Of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior, Which Was Bombed By French Secret Agents

Rainbow Warrior Greenpeace

JAKARTA - There was an incident with the large ship belonging to Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior, ran aground in the port of Auckland, New Zealand after being attacked by a bomb in 1985. French secret agents were predicted to be behind the explosion. How to sit the case?

As proclaimed The Age, which was rewritten The Sydney Morning Herald, the incident occurred on July 10 35 years ago, or in 1985.

At that time, the trawler modified into the main campaign fleet of the international conservation group Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior, was protesting against France's nuclear test in the South Pacific. In the run-up to the protests, they were rocked by two bomb blasts at midnight. Within four minutes the ship sank.

A two meter hole in the ship proves there was a bombardment in the hull. "Examination of the borehole proves that we are dealing with a case of sabotage of explosives," said local police, Supervision Superintendent Alan Galbraith.

As a result of the incident at least one Dutch photographer Fernando Pereira was killed while 14 others managed to survive. Pereira died trapped in the ship's engine room while the others managed to escape.

Two days after the incident, as History wrote, French authorities denied any involvement in the incident. They continued to argue even after New Zealand police arrested two French secret service agents in Auckland.

Under pressure from the New Zealand government, the French government finally agreed to form an investigation team to investigate the incident. After several weeks of investigation, the French agents were said to be spying on Greenpeace.

Towards the end of the year, British newspapers said there was evidence from the authority of French President Francois Mitterrand regarding the planned bombing. This was followed by resignation in Mitterand's cabinet. And finally French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius admitted that the agents had sunk the ship under his orders.

Meanwhile in Auckland, the two agents admitted they were wrong. Each was sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of murder and vandalism. After lobbying by the French government, New Zealand released them a year later.