SAN FRANCISCO: Hundreds of anti-war protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and calling for an end to US military assistance for Israel blocked the international terminal at the San Francisco International Airport on Wednesday.
Footage from the scene showed protesters carrying banners with messages such as “Permanent Ceasefire Now,” “Stop the World for Gaza” and “Stop Arming Israel.” An ABC News affiliate put the number of demonstrators at over 300.
Protests demanding a ceasefire in Gaza have occurred in many US cities in recent months, including near airports and bridges in New York City and Los Angeles, vigils outside the White House and marches in Washington.
This month, large protests were seen ahead of US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and the Oscars. Demonstrators have regularly interrupted Biden’s campaign events and speeches.
Airport officials said the international terminal remained open but passengers were re-routed around the activity. Activists blocked the roadway outside the airport, marched in circles and chanted slogans.
Passengers planning to reach the terminal were told to get dropped off at the rental car center and take an air train to the terminal. There were no known flight delays.
Most of Gaza has been flattened in Israel’s offensive that the health ministry says has killed over 31,000 people, displaced nearly all its 2.3 million population and led to a starvation crisis in the narrow coastal enclave. Israel’s assault on Hamas-governed Gaza followed an Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group that killed about 1,200 people.
While the United States has called for a temporary ceasefire to send more aid to Gaza and get hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7 released, it has rejected calls for a permanent ceasefire, saying such a step would let Hamas regroup.
Protesters demanding Gaza ceasefire block terminal at San Francisco airport
https://arab.news/p5qaf
Protesters demanding Gaza ceasefire block terminal at San Francisco airport
- Footage from the scene showed protesters carrying banners with messages such as “Permanent Ceasefire Now” and “Stop Arming Israel”
- Airport officials said the international terminal remained open but passengers were re-routed around the activity
Trump ‘very disappointed’ with UK’s Starmer for blocking use of air bases, Telegraph says
- UK PM then said bases could be used in “defensive” operations
- Trump says it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind
LONDON: Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not allowing the US to use the Diego Garcia air base to carry out strikes on Iran, the Daily Telegraph quoted the US president as saying in an interview.
Britain had reportedly initially denied the US permission to conduct air strikes from its bases, but on Sunday evening Starmer said he was accepting a request for their use in any “defensive” strikes the US wanted to make against Iranian targets.
In an interview published on Monday Trump told the British newspaper that it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he told the Telegraph, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
Trump said Starmer should have approved from the get-go the American use of Diego Garcia — a strategically important US-UK air base in the Indian Ocean — saying Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country.”
Britain was not involved in the joint US-Israel air strikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Since attacks on Iran started on Saturday, Iran has been targeting Gulf countries with missiles, and on Sunday an Iranian-made drone hit Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, causing limited damage and no casualties.
Trump said it was “useful” that the US would now be able to launch operations from Diego Garcia, as he also criticized a deal Starmer has made over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia is based.
