A US Gaza flotilla ship, Audacity of Hope, was compelled to return to its mooring yesterday by the Greek coastguard after the vessel attempted to set sail without permission from the port authorities.
Free Gaza spokeswoman Greta Berlin told The Irish Timesthat they had travelled for 45 minutes and covered five nautical miles before their boat was intercepted by two Greek coastal patrol vessels.
On board were masked commandos carrying weapons for launching tear gas cannisters. Activists protested and called out, “We are unarmed civilians.” The coastguards radioed a request to see the ship’s documentation which the captain said he had filed well in time.
The coast guard insisted that the ship return to port to receive the results of its inspection but the captain argued that the inspec- tion had been completed. He declared, “We cannot return to the port, we fear sabotage.”
However, the coastguard countered by saying the ship was not allowed to leave Greek territorial waters. The Greek goverment had issued an order prohibiting all Greek and foreign-flagged vessels from sailing to Gaza in breach of the Israeli blockade.
As the ship left port, one of the 36 US activists, Anne Wright, said stopping the ship would amount to “pure evidence of the might of the Israeli government” which has been accused of exerting strong pressure on governments where the 11 ships of Freedom Flotilla II have berthed to abort their mission.
Ms Berlin observed: “Israel is doing its very, very best to make sure we don’t get out of port. We want to move the boats by July 5th so as to get to our rendezvous point no later tha July 6th or 7th.” This announcement may have prompted the Greek authorities to issue their blanket no-sail order.
The Turkish government was the first to capitulate. Ankara refused to grant permission to sail to the Istanbul ferry Mavi Marmara, on which nine Turkish activists died last May when it was attacked by Israeli naval commandos.
While the US, Spanish and Canadian boats were in port tied up in Greek red tape, divers sabotaged the propeller shaft of the boat launched by Greek, Swedish and Norwegian activists. Sweden’s novelist Henning Mankel was among the passengers booked to sail on that boat, which is under repair.
When Irish boat Saoirse, tied up in a Turkish port, made a trial journey, the propeller shaft was found to have been partially cut through and bent.
There was concern that it could be disabled during the voyage, risking the lives of passengers and crew. The ship was lifted out of the water for a refit while most of the passengers returned to Ireland. Among those set to travel were Fintan Lane and Shane Dillon, who took part in last year’s Flotilla I; former Fianna Fáil TD Chris Andrews; former Ireland Leinster rugby star Trevor Hogan; former senator Mark Daly of Fianna Fáil; Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh; Socialist Party MEP Paul Murphy; Labour party activist Mags O’Brien and two Sinn Féin councillors, Pat Fitzgerald and Gerry Mac Lochlainn.