German tourist and anti whaling activist Arne Feuerhahn of Hard To Port left the mast of whaling vessel Hvalur 8 yesterday evening, after 15 hours, in spite of having planned to protest Iceland’s whaling for 48 hours. The organization claims that he was threatened.
“Arne received numerous threats from pro whalers including death threats. Workers on the ship hit the mast with a lifting ramp twice. Police showed up just now to calm things down,” Hard To Port wrote on their Facebook page before he abandoned ship.
When Feuerhahn was interviewed for the Stöð 2 evening news yesterday, he didn’t mention any threats. The employees of whaling company Hvalur had ignored him apart from taking pictures and were planning to leave him alone, according to the company’s spokesperson Halldór Gíslason.
In the interview, Feuerhahn stated that he had arrived to Iceland from Berlin ten days ago and traveled the country.“When I found out that whaling is still going on here by Mr. Kristján Loftsson [Hvalur CEO], I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing about it.”
He also said that the employees of Hvalur had been friendly. “They are taking pictures all the time. They seem like usual workers. I don’t know if they are involved in the whaling att. I think it is just Mr. Loftsson who is the villain here.”
