The yellow X stands for resistance. A whole region is fighting against the transportation of cask for storage and transport of radioactive material, for castor for short. The message from the protests – we will fight this, over and over again. X-thousand times, if needs be.

These placards were used at the last CASTOR transportation protest four years ago. Farmer Adi Lambke is long retired. He keeps his tractors in good condition so, along with other farmers from Wendland, he can block CASTOR transportations.

Adi Lambke: We are going to try and stop them again. And we won’t let the police tell us that we can only park 50 meters from the roadside.

One of his tractors has already paid the ultimate price. While protesting the last castor transportation, the gearbox broke. It now serves as an anti-nuclear monument in his garden. Next to it are the tyres that punctured by police. Adi Lambke has been protesting for the last 20 years – ever since a salt mine in Gorleben was chosen as a repository for radioactive waste.

Whether Gorleben will become a fully-fledged repository is yet to be seen. There is already an interim storage facility with eight castors. Its contents – highly radioactive rust fused to glass blocks, which in turn are welded into steel cylinders. The next six containers are due to arrive soon.

But opponents of the transportation have succeeded time and time again in outwitting the police. At dawn Greenpeace activists occupied the radio tower at the interim storage facility – the protest lasted almost 10 hours. The climbers were eventually arrested. The law states it was trespassing.

Egon Maierhofer: Justice is something else, you lot only speak of law.

The protest is the same as four years ago, although the new SDP-Green central government has since decided to phase out nuclear energy.

Egon Malerhofer: Don’t look so angry!

The nuclear power plant is to be the first in thirty years to be removed from the network. Until then, nuclear waste will continue to be produced and – as the people of Wenland fear – stored temporarily on their doorstep.

Egon Maierhofer: So I usually take part in sit ins… to show that we are doing something to protect life and not for this unholy profiteering.

Austrian Egon Maierhofer has been working in Wendland for many years as a Protestant pastor. They all want to prevent the castor, even if this time it was approved by a Green Party Minister.

Protestor: Trittin has foot and mouth disease

The Green party was at the forefront of the castor protests four years ago. In fact the party has its roots in the anti-nuclear movement. Minister Jurgen Tritten was also at the march.

Jurgen Tritten: We approve shipments if they are necessary. When we agreed to the nuclear phase out, we all knew that there would be no way around the truckloads.

Jurgen Trittin – then and now. He doesn’t support the CASTOR blockade. He defends the transportation as part the nuclear phase out agreement. The Green Party are now engaging in a balancing act between government and the expectations of its voter base.

Rebecca Harms: I have witnessed how the willingness of the Greens to compromise has alienated the anti-nuclear movement. If in this nuclear debate the Greens position themselves differently to the lobby, then we will never be able to achieve any goals.

Until now the greens had been very successful in Wendland, with election results of 25% or more.

Wolfgang Ehmke: If this transportation goes ahead then we will lose respect for any minister that told us to stay at home. We believe that the nuclear phaseout is in disagreement with the industry.

The sandbags are to become a symbolic barrier against radioactive rays, and a physical blockade to the castor. The police are suspicious, and the Wendlanders are determined to ignore any attempt to prohibit the demonstration.

Wolfgang Ehmke: Its like a David and Golliath situation here. We have a huge amount of backing in the community, and that gives us courage to show our colours and take to the streets and the rails.

The protestors managed to stop the last Castor transportation. It lasted for several hours. Near the village of Quickborn, the police and protestors clashed.

But the vast majority of those opposed to the castor protest peacefully – with sit-ins and tractor blockades. That is until the police lost patience in 1997, damaging and cutting tyres. The lack of trust in the police is still felt today. For days officials have been canvasing individual houses and farms.

Frau: It’s not just the protestors who ramage, but also the police, who are becoming more violent. They play the big man in this.

Horat Brandt: I hope that we will have less violence than in 1997. It’s also clear that we can’t resolve a resistance that’s been growing for 20 years in a matter of weeks.

The conflict managers are looking to have a dialogue. The results are not always successful.

The Police won’t stop here. Organic farmer Manfred Ebeling has been a part of the anti-nuclear movement in Wendland for 20 years. When so many of his comrades left the Green party in frustration, he joined. He believes the nuclear phrase out agreement put forward by the central government to be the right way forward, even though he knows that the phasing out will last a long time.

Manfred Ebeling: I dream that the salt dome in Gorleben will not become a repository.

For that reason Manfred Ebeling will continue to protest – no matter which government is sending castors to Wendland.

If a castor comes, I’ll be back on the train lines. If possible, with my tractor.