Greek Dockworkers and Solidarity Activists Block Military Cargo Bound for Israel
A militant mobilization by dockworkers at Greece’s Port of Piraeus prevented the trans-shipment of military grade steel destined for Israel on July 16. Hundreds of solidarity activists, labor unions, and student associations joined the action organized by members of the union ENEDEP (Union of Container Handling Workers at Piers II & III), voicing their opposition to the role of the Piraeus port in the supply chain of the Israeli war machine.
The contested cargo was originally scheduled to be unloaded on Monday, July 14, from the Ever Golden, a Panama-flagged vessel arriving from Singapore. It was to be transferred to another ship headed for the Port of Haifa. However, after ENEDEP’s public intervention, the original plan was reportedly altered, and the cargo was instead transferred to the COSCO Shipping Pisces, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel from the China Ocean Shipping Company that docked at Piraeus on July 16.
Without having its cargo unloaded, the vessel left the Port of Piraeus on July 21 and is headed for the Italian port city of La Spezia with an estimated time of arrival July 25 at 12:00 p.m. (UTC+2).
From the outset, the dockworkers made clear they would not unload any war-related material. According to the union, the cargo consisted of bundles of enriched steel intended for military use, destined for Israel’s weapons industry via the Port of Haifa in Israel and expected to be used in the war on Gaza.
In their statement, ENEDEP stressed that they refuse to be “accomplices to the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
“For us, it is our duty not to allow our port to be turned into a tool of a war machine targeting unarmed populations.”
The union’s message concluded with the slogan, “History has a right side: with Palestine until freedom.”
The action in Piraeus is part of a growing wave of international dockworker interventions in multiple countries, where workers are refusing to facilitate the shipment of military equipment to Israel.
For more coverage of pro-Palestine protests since October 2023, click here or the image below.
Follow us on X (aka Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads, BlueSky and Patreon.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation to help sustain our horizontally-organized, non-profit media organization:
