Eco warriors object to road on ancient bogs

Hundreds of environmentalists are protesting plans to construct a highway across one of Europe's rare peat bogs.

Polish authorities have approved plans to construct a section of the Via Baltica highway, linking Poland with Finland, which would cross a protected peat bog area off the Rospuda River in the northeast of the country. According to the Associated Press, the decision to construct the highway violates a European program that protects rare ecological environments. The EU has demanded an explanation and threatened sanctions if the project goes ahead. The government recently applied to the European Commission saying that delaying the construction would threaten Polish plans to build a badly needed network of highways.

Environmentalists say the presence of heavy construction equipment and the planting of support pillars will destroy dozens of rare plants and animals found only in the bog. Protestors have gathered in Warsaw outside the presidential residence and collected signatures for a protest letter to the government arguing that the highway should bypass Rospuda.

Similar protests were held in Szczecin and Gdansk, on the Baltic coast, and in the southern city of Krakow. Environment Minister Jan Szyszko will meet opponents and supporters of the highway in the Rospuda Valley, where Greenpeace activists have been protesting against the construction work, which is due to start in the coming weeks.

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