Greenpeace director banned from Greenland

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NUUK, Greenland, June 22 (UPI) -- The global director of Greenpeace was deported and banned from Greenland for one year following a protest against Cairn Energy's work there, the group said.

Kumi Naidoo, international executive director of Greenpeace, was arrested last week after scaling a Cairn platform. He was deported from Greenland after four days in jail and is barred from the country for one year, Greenpeace claimed.

A Dutch court ruled against Greenpeace after Cairn Energy sued the group. Greenpeace in early June said it forced Cairn to stop its drilling operations in the arctic waters off the coast of Greenland for four days when activists suspended themselves from a survival pod off the bottom of the company's oil rig.

"The Arctic is a global commons," the group said in a statement. "It's our duty as world citizens to come together to shield it from the ravages of oil exploitation and global warming, isolate it from the din of nationalist squabbling, and keep it safe for future generations."

Activists claim the rush to explore potential new oil and gas reserves in areas exposed by melting arctic sea ice could create safety and environmental problems. Greenpeace said that one exploratory drilling campaign in Greenland's waters discharges more harmful pollutants than all drilling in Norway and Denmark combined.

Cairn said it was committed to safe operations in Greenland's waters.