Six activists of the environment group Greenpeace were arrested for scaling the chimney of a thermal power plant in eastern India to highlight damage caused by pollution, police said on Saturday.
The activists scaled a 250-feet (76 metres) high smokestack of the Kolaghat plant, 90 kilometres (50 miles) west of Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state.
They were seeking to spotlight the threat to the environment from coal-fired power plants, Greenpeace spokeswoman Joyshree Nandy said.
Greenpeace said they would seek the release of the activists on Monday.
"We will move a (fresh) bail plea on Monday before the district court for release of the six activists," Nandy said.
The arrests were made Thursday after the six climbed the smokestack, said senior police official Raj Kanojia.
"They were charged with criminal trespass," Kanojia said."Their bail pleas were rejected."
Another Greenpeace campaigner Vinuta Gopal slammed the arrests.
"It is climate change that needs to be arrested, not those who are trying to stop it," she said.
Meanwhile, Greenpeace's flagship vessel, the Rainbow Warrior, dropped anchor at Kolkata's Khidderpore docks en route to the Indonesian tourist resort island of Bali, a Greenpeace statement said.
The ship is on a mission to promote awareness about climate change in India in the run-up to the crucial UN climate negotiations in Bali in December.
"Kolkata is the first port of call on this campaign during which Greenpeace will engage in activities to raise awareness on climate change," Nandy said.
The current Rainbow Warrior was launched in 1989, four years after the original was sunk allegedly by French government agents to foil Greenpeace protests against nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific.
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