Pro-Palestinian activists block entrance to Israel-bound military ship at Oakland port

More than 100 demonstrators and activists gathered at the Port of Oakland on Friday to block the entrance to a ship that they claimed was transporting military weapons to Israel. 

What started as a group of a few dozen activists affiliated with the Arab Resource and Organizing Center grew to as many as 150 protesters over the course of the morning, AROC’s press coordinator, Wassim Hage, told SFGATE. A source from the port informed AROC that the cargo ship Cape Orlando was scheduled to transport weapons to Israel, Hage said, after a stop in Tacoma, Washington. 

SFGATE could not immediately confirm the contents of the ship or its final destination.

“We’re sending the alarm that the U.S. government is, in fact, sending these weapons to Israel,” Hage said. “We want people to be aware that the U.S. is going to continue to use our ports to facilitate the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza.”

Protesters began arriving to the port at around 6:45 a.m., Port of Oakland spokesperson Marilyn Sandifur told SFGATE.

A handful of people climbed the ropes on the side of the ship, AROC’s executive director, Lara Kiswani, told SFGATE at the port on Friday afternoon. 

“People took it upon themselves to directly occupy the ship,” Kiswani said. 

Eventually, protesters were removed and the ship began to leave the port a little before 2 p.m., with onlookers shouting, “Shame on you,” and, “See you at the next stop,” as it departed. AROC has been “in coordination with our partners in Tacoma, who are prepared to block the boat once it reaches there, if it does,” Kiswani said. 

Cape Orlando belongs to the Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, a spokesperson with the U.S. Coast Guard told SFGATE. No details were available on the ship’s projected route or the cargo it is carrying.

Local law enforcement was on the scene, but the Oakland Police Department told SFGATE that no arrests had been made as of 4 p.m. and Sandifur said that no disruption to the port’s flow of commerce had occurred due to the demonstration. 

SFGATE