Former Prime minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt shows his support for the Arctic 30 by signing the petition in Groningen, the sister city of Murmansk, the city where the Arctic 30 are detained and the province where Mannes Ubels, one of the Arctic 30, lives. As the Arctic 30 face their 30th day of imprisonment by Russian authorities, nearly 10,000 people are taking to the streets at 85 events in 36 cities to call for their immediate release. A Russian court has charged the Arctic 30 (twenty-eight Greenpeace International activists, as well as a freelance videographer and photographer), with piracy, punishable for up to 15 years in prison.