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Afternoon Unloading of Israeli Ship at Oakland Port Canceled after Morning Protest

By David Bacon
Sunday June 20, 2010 - 10:52:00 PM
David Bacon
David Bacon

OAKLAND-- Hundreds of demonstrators from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area set up early morning picket lines in front of four gates into the SSA terminal in the Port of Oakland, as a ship carrying Israeli cargo was preparing to dock. Demonstrators were protesting the Israeli attack on the flotilla that sought to break the blockade of Gaza, in which Israeli troops killed nine people. In response to the picket line, members of Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union decided not to go into the terminal and unload the cargo. In the afternoon, with picket lines again in front of the gate, the stevedoring company decided not to ask for a crew of longshore workers to unload the ship, in the expectation that the crew would again not enter the terminal.