ATHENS: Greek police used tear gas and made arrests as some 300 people tried to block an Israeli cruise ship on the island of Crete, the latest in a series of protests targeting the vessel.
The protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying “Stop the genocide” as the Crown Iris approached, according to images on the public broadcaster ERT.
The images also showed police using tear gas to disperse the crowd, allowing several hundred passengers to board buses on the island.
“I had a sore throat from the tear gas and had to leave the demonstration,” Elena Toutoudaki, a teacher in her fifties, told AFP.
Three people were arrested before being released, according to a local police source.
Protesters have targeted the Crown Iris, with around 600 mostly Israelis on board, in other Greek islands.
On Monday, protesters scuffled with police who made eight arrests as it docked in Rhodes, media reports said, while last week 200 people protested in Syros as the ship approached.
Police had insisted passengers could disembark on Syros, but the Times of Israel reported that the ship’s owners decided to skip the island.
Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Mihalis Chryssohoidis subsequently said anyone who “prevents a citizen of a third country from visiting our country will be prosecuted under the anti-racism law.”
Numerous demonstrations against the Israeli war on Gaza have taken place in Athens and other cities across Greece.
Crete protesters try to block arrival of Israeli tourists
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Crete protesters try to block arrival of Israeli tourists
- Protesters at the port of Agios Nikolaos waved banners saying “Stop the genocide” as the Israeli cruise ship approached
Venezuela swears in 5,600 troops after US military build-up
- American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87
CARACAS: The Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday, as the United States cranks up military pressure on the oil-producing country.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
