TACOMA, Washington: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza blocked traffic Monday at the Port of Tacoma, where a military supply ship had recently arrived.
Organizers said they opposed the Israel-Hamas war and targeted the vessel — the Cape Orlando — based on confidential information that it was to be loaded with weapons bound for Israel.
Those claims could not immediately be corroborated. In an emailed statement, Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense, confirmed that the vessel is under the control of the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command and is supporting the movement of US military cargo.
“Due to operations security, DoD does not provide transit or movement details or information regarding the cargo embarked on vessels of this kind,” McGarry said.
The Cape Orlando drew similar protests in Oakland, California, where it docked on Friday before it sailed to Tacoma. About 300 protesters delayed its departure, and the US Coast Guard detained three people who climbed onto the ship.
The three were released on a pier in San Francisco, Petty Officer Hunter Schnabel said Monday. He said investigations are ongoing against the three and others who had breached the federal maritime area.
By midmorning Monday, about 200 protesters remained at the Port of Tacoma, some carrying signs reading “No Aid For Israel” and “Free All Palestinian Prisoners,” emblazoned with watermelons, a symbol of Palestinian freedom. No arrests had been made, said officer Shelbie Boyd, a spokesperson for the Tacoma Police Department.
The protesters’ goal was to block the Cape Orlando from being loaded, said Wassim Hage, with the San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
“It speaks to the historic moment where people are coming out to say, ‘No. No funding for genocide, no US bombs for bombing hospitals and killing children in Gaza,’” he said Monday.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 23, which represents workers at the Port of Tacoma, did not immediately returned phone messages from the Associated Press on Monday.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly a month of war in Gaza, and more than 4,000 of those killed are children and minors. That toll likely will rise as Israeli troops advance into dense, urban neighborhoods.
Protesters calling for Gaza ceasefire block road at Tacoma port while military cargo ship docks
https://arab.news/rzyv4
Protesters calling for Gaza ceasefire block road at Tacoma port while military cargo ship docks
- The Cape Orlando drew similar protests in Oakland, California, where it docked on Friday before it sailed to Tacoma
Russian attack wounds at least 32 in southern Ukraine
- The attacks came with the United States pushing Ukraine to accept peace terms to halt the fighting that critics have said are favorable to the Kremlin
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine: Russian air strikes on and around the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday wounded at least 32 people, according to the local authorities.
The head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that all of those wounded came from the city and its surroundings.
Rescue services earlier in the day said that five children were among the casualties in a provisional toll of 30, after strikes on a block of flats, a house and an educational establishment.
AFP journalists at the scene saw firefighters battling a blaze in a multiple-story housing block, where black smoke was billowing into the sky.
Fedorov said two people were also wounded in a Russian drone strike on a civilian car in Kushuhum, south of Zaporizhzhia.
The industrial city of Zaporizhzhia had a pre-war population of around 710,000 people and lies 27 kilometers (17 miles) from the front line. It has been targeted frequently by Russian forces since they invaded in February 2022.
The Kremlin claimed in late 2022 that it had annexed the wider region, along with three other eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.
The attacks came with the United States pushing Ukraine to accept peace terms to halt the fighting that critics have said are favorable to the Kremlin.
