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As Israel illegally abducts the flotilla activists, the public plan mass protests UK-wide

Protesters across the UK are gearing up to stand in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla. Overnight, Israel has kidnapped nearly 500 pro-Palestine activists aboard the fleet sailing in international waters.

Updates on the Global Sumud Flotilla now show that Israel has likely illegally intercepted the majority of the vessels sailing to Gaza to break the violent colonial occupier’s siege on the Strip. Currently, it’s displaying that Israeli naval ships and speedboats have committed the blatant act of piracy against 21 ships in the 44-strong fleet. A further 19 are presumed to have been intercepted.

However, despite abducting more than 400 peaceful activists from 44 countries, carrying urgently needed food, baby formula, and other basic necessities to Gaza, governments around the world have so far done nothing to protect their citizens from the terrorist state.

Instead, as ever, it’s up to ordinary citizens to school their governments on moral integrity – and international law.

UK-wide protests in solidarity with the humanitarian flotilla

The Global Sumud Flotilla and Global Movement to Gaza have called for mass demonstrations across the UK on Thursday 2 October:

 

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Already, it has organised protests for the following locations at 5.30pm:

  • London – Kings Cross Station
  • London – Liverpool Street Station Station
  • Birmingham – Birmingham New Street Station
  • Kent – Dartford Station
  • Glasgow – Glasgow Central Station
  • Manchester – Manchester Piccadilly Station
  • Leeds – Leeds Station
  • Cardiff – Cardiff Central
  • Edinburgh – Edinburgh Waverley Station
  • Southampton – Southampton Central

The action is aiming to #ShutItDown at each location to demand protection of the Global Sumud Flotilla. The groups are urging people to turn out in Palestinian flag colours and call for an end to Israel’s siege and occupation. They’re also asking for people across the UK to set up further demos in their town or city in defiance of the Labour Party government’s active participation in Israel’s ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

The protests will join a sweep of demonstrations across countries far-and-wide. Members of the public across cities throughout Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Turkey, Jordan, and Tunisia have stood up against the apartheid entity’s illegal seizure and detention of the international activists:

After the Italian navy abandoned the fleet, Italy’s unions called for industrial action and to “block everything” for the flotilla. True to their word, the country’s union has announced a general strike and have set about blocking everything as pledged:

In the UK on the evening of 1 October, London saw protesters take to the streets with fireworks, flags, and megaphones calling for a free Palestine. They marched with a large banner shaming prime minister Keir Starmer as a war criminal complicit in arming genocidal and war criminal Israel:

UK citizens abducted: the government must act

Many UK citizens are aboard the flotilla. Ahead of the interception, they urged the UK government to act to prevent Israel hijacking their vessels:

At present, because Israel has cut communications on the vessels, their whereabouts and wellbeing is unknown. Naturally, governments quick to preserve Israeli impunity, have been silent on it abducting their citizens in international waters.

Of course, after (largely Western) world leaders have watched on as Israel have carried out a grotesque livestreamed genocide, their failure to act is hardly surprising. They’ve ignored Israel’s flagrant acts of terrorist aggression in numerous drone attacks on the flotilla to date.

However, despite Israel’s repeated threats, the Global Sumud Flotilla were true to their ‘steadfast’ name. They refused to stop sailing towards Gaza. Now, one vessel – Mikeno – has broken the Israeli blockade and entered Palestinian waters. As of 8.21am UTC (9.21am GMT) it was continuing towards the Strip.

So as protesters around the world raise their voice in solidarity with the detained activists, all eyes will continue to be on Gaza – and the Mikeno – sailing with the hopes of millions demanding a free Palestine behind it.

Featured image via the Canary

By Hannah Sharland

This post was originally published on Canary.