PARIS, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- A French Greenpeace activist pitched a tent on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower and unfurled banners protesting Russia's arrest of fellow environmentalists.
Cyril Cormier managed to cause the landmark to be shut down for about two hours Saturday after his stunt, Radio France Internationale reported. He displayed banners reading "Free the Arctic 30" and "Militants in prison, climate in danger."
Cormier was referencing the 30 Greenpeace activists arrested by Russian officials in the Arctic Ocean where they were protesting the country's oil production. Two of the group scaled an offshore rig and the group was taken into custody and charged with piracy.
The charges have since been reduced to hooliganism though they are still being held pending a court outcome.
Cormier called on French President Francois Hollande to intervene on behalf of the arrested activists.
"President Hollande claimed he would be the French president fighting against climate change," he said.
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