Around 3,000
people gathered outside Haifa District Court on Sunday to demand the
closure of an ammonia storage facility that is said to be potentially
more deadly than five of the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima.
Judges in
the district court deliberated for around three hours as a crowd of
environmental protesters gathered outside.
Middle and
high schools around Haifa and nearby towns also went on strike, with
all classes cancelled from 8am till noon to allow the students to
take part in the protest.
“The
ammonia tank endangers and threatens hundreds of thousands of
citizens living in the Haifa district. I call on all teenagers to ask
the hard questions, create a discourse, become actively involved and
go and protest for the relocation of the ammonia tank,” said
Haifa District Student Council Chairman Noy Krief, as quoted by Ynet.
In an
earlier ruling, Haifa’s Court for Local Affairs gave the Haifa
Group, the fertilizer producer that operates the tank, until February
22 to remove its chemicals from the facility. Israel’s
Environmental Protection Ministry also said it would not renew the
tank’s permit when it expires on March 1.
After
initially saying it would comply with the court’s decision, the
company filed a last-minute appeal, accusing Haifa’s authorities of
trying to “sow fear among the public,” arguing that its
facility is crucial to the local economy and closing it will cost
jobs. It was granted a stay until Sunday’s hearing.
The facility
was declared a danger to public health after the Technion Institute
of Technology published an expert report in January, which said the
site had not been properly inspected since it was built 30 years ago.
If the ammonia tank was to rupture, for example, as the result of an
earthquake or terrorist attack, the released gas could suffocate
16,000 people. This fact was not lost on Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah, who threatened to launch rockets at Haifa’s ammonia
tanks, as well as a nuclear facility in Dimona, should a conflict
erupt with Israel.
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