TUNIS: Tunisian counter-terrorism police on Friday arrested five organizers of a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists aiming to sail for Gaza this spring, campaigners said.
It was unclear why the five members — all Tunisian — were arrested, with the Global Sumud Flotilla group asking for “immediate clarifications.”
The campaigners sought to break an Israeli blockade by delivering aid to Gaza by sea in October. In February, they announced a new mission to the besieged territory from countries including Tunisia.
The group “strongly condemns the arrest today of local Tunisian GSF organizers,” the campaigners said in a statement.
“Free Nabil Channoufi, Wael Naouar, Sana Msahli, Jawaher Channa, and Mohamed Amin Bannour,” the group said.
The arrests, “together with the repeated shutdowns of lawful gatherings,” marked a “troubling departure from Tunisia’s long history of public solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the statement added.
Earlier this week, organizers said they were “violently blocked” by the police from reaching the Sidi Bou Said port, one of the main ports they had set sail from last year.
And a gathering aimed to be held on Thursday in preparation for the next mission was “also canceled by authorities just moments before it was set to begin,” the group said.
Tunisian authorities have yet to issue a comment or confirm the activists’ arrests.
The Global Sumud Flotilla describes its actions as a “non-violent response to genocide, siege, mass starvation, and the destruction of civilian life in Gaza.”
Before reaching Gaza last year, the flotilla was intercepted by Israel, which seized their boats before detaining then deporting the activists.
Israel controls Gaza’s borders and scrutinizes all aid coming into the territory.