Oakland, California docks protest at arrival of Israeli ship, call on dockers to refuse to unload

More than 500 pro-Palestinian demonstrators at the Port of Oakland try to delay arrival of Israeli cargo ship.
By Haaretz Service

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters picketed at the Port of Oakland, in California, on Sunday hoping to delay an Israeli cargo ship from docking, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Police estimated that more than 500 demonstrators gathered early Sunday morning at Berth 58, where a cargo ship operated by the Israeli Zim shipping company was scheduled to dock. The crowd dispersed around 10 a.m. but around 200 protesters returned in the afternoon when a second shift of dockworkers were scheduled to work.

The demonstration was staged to protest Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.

"Our objective was to boycott this ship for 24 hours, and we succeeded in doing that," said Richard Becker, with the ANSWER Coalition, one of the groups that organized the protest.

According to Becker, the ship's arrival was delayed from the morning until its eventual arrival around 6 p.m., by which time dockworkers agreed not to show up to unload the vessel, citing concern for their personal safety.

A representative of the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco disputed Becker's account, saying the ship had always been scheduled to arrive at 6 p.m.

In the afternoon, two Israel supporters arrived and waved Israeli and American flags across the street from the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

Original report in Haaretz 21 June 2010