Hundreds of peace activists prevented the unloading of an Israeli ship at the Port of Oakland Sunday by forming a picket line.
Organizers said their goal was to delay the ship"s unloading for 24 hours in protest of the Israeli military"s May 31 open-seas raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla that had been bringing goods to Gaza. The raid ended in the death of nine Turkish citizens.
Several hundred people gathered at the Oakland port about 5:30 a.m. at berths 57, 58 and 59, which is operated by SSA Terminals. An Israeli Zim Lines ship was expected to arrive in the morning, but didn"t. So the crowd stayed until the afternoon, preventing workers from unloading a ship from China, according to SSA officials.
"Free, free Palestine! Don"t cross the picket line!" the pickets shouted, blocking the berths" entrances and preventing about 100 longshoremen from walking past.
The longshoremen"s union largely cooperated with the picket line. No workers tried to cross it.
Clarence Thomas, an executive board member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 10 said, "We don"t want our members getting into fist fights or anything. We don"t want police escorting us to work. That"s unsafe."
Organizers had informed Oakland police of their plans for the picket, and police reported no arrests.
Richard Mead, president of Local 10, said Sunday night that SSA decided against ordering night shift workers to unload the Israeli ship, so employees didn"t show up and didn"t have to cross any picket lines.
"We can"t make them order a crew," Mead said. "It is what is."
"We consider this to be a huge victory and a historic moment," said organizer Richard Becker. "This is the first time this has happened, that an Israeli ship was blocked from unloading in a U.S. port."
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