A U.S. military supply ship was blocked from leaving an Oakland, California, port on Friday by pro-Palestinian protesters who believed the ship was going to carry a cargo of military equipment to Israel.
Protesters locked themselves to the carrier Cape Orlando, which they said was going to bring weapons to Israel after loading up in Tacoma, Washington, according to KPIX-TV.
Demonstrators also blocked the entrance to the berth where the ship was moored, and three others were “holding on to a rope ladder and refusing to let workers close a door” to the ship, KPIX reported.
The protest began before dawn with about 50 demonstrators, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and grew to about 200.
The activists chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, the occupation has got to go” as they called for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
One of the protesters, Meena Abushamala, said she was “enraged that our taxpayer dollars [are] funding this genocide and the continued ethnic cleansing of our people.”
At about 3 p.m., authorities removed the three protesters clinging to the rope ladder and the ship left port.
The San Francisco-based Arab Resource Organizing Center, which organized the demonstration, said the three protesters were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Petty Officer Hunter Schnabel said “multiple individuals are currently under investigation” but would provide no further information.
According to the Chronicle, the Cape Orlando was built in 1981 and became part of the U.S. Ready Reserve fleet in 1994. The ship was used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Lara Kiswani, executive director of the AROC, said she was positive the ship would carry weapons to Israel and demanded Oakland’s leaders act to “stop this genocide.”
Neither KPIX nor the Chronicle could confirm that the vessel was headed to Israel.
As of Saturday evening, a ship tracking website showed the Cape Orlando off the Northern California coast on a northwest course.
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