Greenpeace ends Polish coal-plant protest

Greenpeace activists who scaled a massive chimney at Poland's Belchatow coal-fired power plant have abandoned their protest after more than 40 hours because of pollution, the organisation said yesterday.

The group said local police detained the six activists from around the world after they descended from the 180-metre (560-foot) tower in southern Poland late Wednesday.

"They'll all be questioned, which should take several hours," Katarzyna Guzek, a spokeswoman for Greenpeace Poland, told AFP, adding that the they could be charged with trespassing.

The protest was part of a Greenpeace campaign aimed at phasing out coal use as Poland prepares to host the COP24 global climate summit next month.