Police put the number at the Gorleben site at 14,000 with the organisers claiming 16,000 environmentalists had turned out, twice the number at a similar protest at the site two years ago.

The train, transporting 123 tonnes of waste, left western France Friday and made its way Saturday through the east of the country, where two demonstrations greeted its passage.

It is the 11th such trainload of waste to be taken from the retreatment plant at La Hague in Normandy to Germany and is due to arrive Monday.

At the border beteeen the two countries three German demonstrators blocked the train by chaining themselves to the track, police said.

The high turnout at Gorleben signalled the "rebirth of the anti-nuclear movement in Germany," said Jochen Stay, spokesman for the organisers of the demonstration.

About 10,000 German police officers have been mobilised to protect the train. The waste will be taken by road for the final 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Dannenberg to Gorleben, about 200 kilometres (120) northwest of Berlin.

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