Denmark Breaks EU Rules In Faroe Islands

Fourteen Sea Shepherd activists have been detained, while trying to stop a whale hunt on the Faroes island of Sandoy.

Prisoners of WAR???

They were held last Saturday when attempting to save a pod of 33 pilot whales, as the mammals were driven to shore to be killed by waiting hunting parties.
The detainees included six SS shore crew, and eight who were on three small boats near the island (one who'd been violently assaulted in the Faroes just days before).
A Danish Navy vessel ordered the three boats back and later seized them. Despite being a member of the EU and subject to laws prohibiting the slaughter of cetaceans, Denmark has officially shown its support of — and now direct collaboration with — the Faroese whalers, by sending the Danish Navy to defend the whale slaughter alongside Faroese police. Danish Armed Forces' Arctic Command says it's standard procedure for the Danish Navy to assist the Faroese police in its work. Faroese police would not comment.

"Off with their heads!"

After the arrests, the hunt went ahead and all 33 pilot whales were killed...
...just two days prior, five bottlenose whales stranded on the island of Suduroy, on the killing beach of Hvalba. The population of these rather rare Northern bottlenose whales is believed to be no more than 10,000. In most places around the world, cetaceans stranded in shallow waters are helped by compassionate humans and ushered back to sea. However, rather than attempting to rescue them, Faroese butchered the stranded whales while SS volunteers were blocked from approaching (Faroese regulations allow for the killing of beached bottlenose whales ONLY if they can't be rescued).

Fins from babies ripped from womb

A possible cause of the stranding is seismic testing. Currently, extensive testing is ongoing between the Shetland and Faroe Islands. Many species of marine mammals are vulnerable to the effects of such testing - beaked whales, of which the Northern bottlenose whale is one, are particularly susceptible.
Update: All fourteen SS crew have now been released from custody, with some court appearances due this week. The boat team will have their court day on 25 Sept. This later date allows the police to hold the three SS boats until the end of September.