Italian dockers refuse to load ships with weapons for Israel

An Italian dockers’ union has refused to load a shipment of weapons intended for the Israeli port of Ashdod. “The port of Livorno will not be complicit in the massacre of the Palestinian people,” L’Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) said in a statement.

When the union in Livorno, Tuscany, discovered that the cargo containing weapons was destined for Israel, they refused to load the ship. The USB claimed the ship “contained weapons and explosives that would serve to kill the Palestinian population.”

They found out through research by The Weapon Watch, a Genoa-based campaign group that monitors the arms trade.

Eventually, the ship was able to continue its journey after other dockers did load it. So it could still sail via Napens to Ashdod in Israel. That writes the website of The New Arab.

The USB has also participated in a street protest in which they demanded “the immediate cessation of the bombing of Gaza”.