The National Times - Anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson arrives in France

Watson, 74, was released on Tuesday after Denmark refused the Japanese extradition request over a 2010 clash with whalers.

He landed at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport shortly before 3.00 pm (1400 GMT), an airport source said.

A smiling Watson was seen wheeling his luggage through the airport terminal as armed police looked on, video footage showed.

Supporters clapped and some shouted: "Bravo!" One woman handed him a balloon. The activist left the airport without making a statement, only saying: "Thank you" in French and English.

Watson, who featured in the reality TV series "Whale Wars", founded the campaign group Sea Shepherd and the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF) and is known for radical tactics including confrontations with whaling ships at sea.

On his release on Tuesday, he had announced his intention to return to France, where he had been living since July 2023 and where his two young children attend school. He requested French citizenship in October.

Watson's legal woes have attracted support from the public and activists, including prominent British conservationist Jane Goodall, who has urged French President Emmanuel Macron to grant him political asylum.

"It's been five months and this is the first day of freedom, so I'm feeling great," Watson told AFP in a video call shortly after his release from the Danish autonomous territory this week.

Tokyo accuses Watson of injuring a Japanese crew member with a stink bomb intended to disrupt the whalers' activities during a Sea Shepherd clash with the Shonan Maru 2 vessel in 2010.

Watson's lawyers have said they have video footage proving the crew member was not on deck when the stink bomb was thrown.

Supporters planned to stage a rally on Saturday afternoon to welcome Watson.

E.Reid--TNT