Greece does US bidding to stop Gaza bound ship

Greece halts US Boat’s bid for Gaza
Published today (updated) 01/07/2011 21:58

ATHENS, Greece (Ma’an) — The US Boat to Gaza left the Athens Port at 4:50 p.m. on Friday, expecting to be stopped by Greek authorities in the country’s coastal waters on its way to meet a French ship that had already left port.

Shortly after it sailed the US boat was intercepted by Greek officials, at the same time organizers of the Canadian boat to Gaza said the coastguard surrounded their vessel and prevented it from leaving.

At sea, the US ship attempted to secure passage through coastguard ships – one with armed soldiers aboard – which demanded it return, following the passage of a decision by the Greek Cabinet that afternoon, which according to organizers mandated that “no boat will sail for the Gaza Strip from Greece.”

“The Greeks declared that there would be no boats leaving from Greece to Gaza, no boats at all,” organizer Ann Wright told reporters as the ship was being escorted back to shore, where coastguard officials said the activists would not likely be arrested, but were being kept on board the vessel.

“If we did not comply with what we said they would board us,” she said, confirming that the decision to turn around was made by the captain and seconded by organizers. …more