A picture showing several of the ships taking part in the Palestine Freedom Flotilla campaign as they near a port in Palermo, Sicily, on July 17, 2018. (Photo by freedomflotilla.org)
London Chapter co-chair David Heap is in Palermo, Italy as part of a pro-refugee protest. While there he and others have rallied in support of global activists currently making final preparations for this year’s Freedom Flotilla, which leaves from Palermo on Thursday.
In an interview with Press TV David explained, “The freedom flotilla is a grassroots, multinational movement to challenge the illegal inhumane blockade of Gaza, and to reach the conscience of the world that the governments are complicit with the blockade move…, because it is with the complicity of the Western governments that the blockade continues.”
According to another of the pro-refugee activists, “We are all supporting human rights so we are obviously going to support [the Freedom Flotilla activists]. We are here to try and open the borders and stop the war.”
As Press TV reports, “Gaza has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a sharp decline in living standards as well as unprecedented unemployment and poverty. According to the UN, the stringent conditions threaten to render the territory uninhabitable by 2020.”
The Council of Canadians has long called for an end to the blockade of Gaza, and highlighted the water crisis created by the ongoing conflict.
You can read the full Press TV article here.
