Protest blocks Mont Blanc tunnel

Protesters gathered at the French end of the tunnel, at Chamonix

CHAMONIX, France -- Environmental protesters prevented heavy lorries entering the Mont Blanc tunnel on the first day of its reopening to heavy vehicles after the disastrous 1999 fire which killed 39 people.

The resumption of heavy lorry traffic through the Alpine passage was designed to be the final phase of its gradual reopening to vehicles.

However, no heavy lorries had passed through the French side 15 hours after the green light for such vehicles -- except those carrying hazardous materials -- was given at midnight.

Several thousand environmental protesters opposed to the reopening of the Mont Blanc tunnel to heavy trucks blocked all traffic on the French side. Shortly after dawn, cars and other vehicles were directed to the nearby Frejus passage.

The protests started at midnight when demonstrators stopped a Belgian big rig from entering and angrily set fire to its contents when they found a television crew aboard the largely-empty vehicle.

It was a Belgian lorry that caused the blaze in March, 1999, that led to the tragedy which killed 39 people in the tunnel beneath western Europe's highest mountain.

The protesters emptied the lorry's load of wooden pallets on to the side of the road and set them alight.

They also managed to get a steel block weighing 21 tonnes out of the lorry, Belgian journalist Chantal Lemaire told Reuters.

The Mont Blanc tunnel fire killed 39 people

"I take total responsibility for what happened. I wanted to do a report on road transport and those that oppose it. I thought we would be one among many trucks. I never imagined we would become the focus of such emotion," Lemaire said.

The protest ended with demonstrators letting down the vehicle's tyres.

"We are stunned. That it should have been Belgian television that organised this is degrading," said Georges Unia, president of the Association for the Respect of the Mont Blanc Area.

"Luckily the police were there, otherwise it would have been the truck that we would have set alight."

Some 2,500 people later joined a march from nearby Chamonix to block the French tunnel entrance in what became a day of protest.

About 300 police were on duty to maintain law and order.

Environmentalists had opposed Tuesday's reopening, saying exhaust fumes from trucks pollute the beautiful and delicate Alpine region. Local residents oppose allowing heavy freight to use the link, arguing it is too dangerous.

One protest sign read: "Chamonix, a mountain-climbing capital, not a truck capital."

Since the 1999 fire the tunnel has been rebuilt with numerous safety features, including firefighters stationed permanently at each end and in the middle.

Three years after the accident, car traffic resumed in March. Small-sized lorries and tourist buses started using the tunnel in April, and lorries weighing 19-26 tons were given the go-ahead in May.

Italy trucks 60 percent of its exports through Alpine tunnels. Paris and Rome had been locked in months of wrangling about when to reopen the tunnel to freight.