Protesters Block U.S. Military Supply Ship’s Departure for Occupied Territories
OAKLAND (Dispatches) –
Protesters opposing the U.S.’s military aid for the occupying regime, which is waging a hugely deadly war against the Gaza Strip, have blocked the departure of a military supply ship reportedly earmarked for delivering weapons to the occupied territories.
The crowd of roughly 200 protesters turned up at the Port of Oakland on Saturday, blocking the vessel’s departure for Washington, where they said it was to be loaded with weapons destined for the occupied territories.
Several protesters climbed a ladder on the side of the vessel attached to a cargo hatch.
The protest was organized by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource Organizing Center.
“The community became aware that the ship was headed to Israel to carry military cargo to the apartheid Israel because of the courage of crewmembers who decided not to take this job,” said Lara Kiswani, the group’s executive director.
“I’m here at the Port of Oakland with a group that’s protesting the departure of this ship that is planning to deliver weapons to Israel in support of the genocide of innocent people in Gaza,” said protesters Becca Lewis.
“The goal is to get the ship workers to stand in solidarity with the movement of people who are concerned about the shipment of weapons,” she said.
The United States, the Zionist regime’s biggest and oldest ally, has provided the regime with thousands of arms consignments since October 7, when Tel Aviv started the war against Gaza.
Since the onset of the war, the U.S. has backed Tel Aviv’s ferocious attacks on the Palestinian territory as a means of “self-defense.”
Washington has also been casting its veto against the United Nations Security Council resolution that calls on the occupying regime to cease its aggression.
‘Freedom Convoy’ Calls for Ceasefire
In another development, a “freedom convoy for Palestine” is on its way from Istanbul to a United States military base in southern Turkey in solidarity with the people of Gaza as the Zionist regime wages war on the besieged enclave.
Cars and vans displaying Palestinian and some Turkish flags departed from Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium and headed to the city of Adana, where the Incirlik Air Base is located.
The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), the Turkish non-profit that organized the event, said hundreds of vehicles were driving towards Turkey’s capital, Ankara, with many more protesters expected to join as the convoy stops in cities along the way, covering nearly 1,000km (620 miles).
Convoys departing from three other Turkish cities – Kahramanmaras, Kayseri and Van – were also expected on Sunday to reach Adana, where the demonstrators plan to encircle the Incirlik Air Base to protest against U.S. support for the Zionist regime and to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.