Wellington - Seven activists of the international Greenpeace environment organization were arrested Sunday after painting a protest slogan on the side of an Indonesian ship unloading palm- kernel animal feed at the New Zealand port of New Plymouth. Greenpeace claims that indigenous rain forests in Indonesia are cleared to plant palms, whose kernel is used as a food supplement for cows supplying milk to New Zealand's Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd, the world's biggest exporter of dairy products.
The activists painted the 3-metre-high slogan "Fonterra climate crime" on the Ikan Juana.
Greenpeace New Zealand climate campaigner Simon Boxer said that clearing rain forests in Indonesia and Malaysia to plant palm plantations is causing "massive carbon emissions," which are blamed for global warning.
Police said the four men and three women arrested were charged with entering a port exclusion zone without authorization and intentional damage.
They will appear Thursday in court.
