Whaling protest staged outside Japan mission in Melbourne

MELBOURNE (AFP) - Australian anti-whaling protesters staged a demonstration outside the Japanese consulate in Melbourne Thursday, unfurling a giant Japanese flag with a woman in a pool of blood replacing the rising sun.

Protesters wearing bio-hazard suits and smeared with fake blood held signs saying "ban whaling" on the footpath outside the consulate as police looked on.

Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV) spokesman Noah Hannibal said about 250 protesters joined the demonstration against Japanese plans to kill almost 1,000 whales this year in waters off Antarctica.

"The blood symbolised the whales which are being illegally slaughtered by Japan," Hannibal told AFP.

It follows another demonstration last week when the same group coated themselves in fake blood in the foyer of the consulate, located in a central office block in Australia's second largest city.

"As long as Japan is killing these gentle giants, then we will be relentless," Hannibal said, adding that further protests were planned.

Japan has been under fire for defying international protests and sending its whaling fleet into Antarctic waters to hunt, ostensibly for "scientific" purposes, exploiting a loophole in a 1986 moratorium on whaling.

However, the Japanese bowed to pressure last month by abandoning plans to kill around 50 humpbacks, which form the backbone of Australia and New Zealand's lucrative whale-watching industry.

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