Israeli cruise ship turned away from Greek island by Gaza war protest
Around 1,600 Israeli passengers on board the Crown Iris were prevented from disembarking amid safety concerns when more than 300 demonstrators on the Cycladic isle made clear they were unwelcome over Israel's conduct of the war and treatment of Palestinians in Gaza. A large banner emblazoned with the words Stop the Genocide was held aloft alongside Palestinian flags.
A statement from the protesters also took issue with Greece's increasingly close 'economic, technological and military' relationship with Israel. 'As residents of Syros but more so as human beings, we are taking action that we hope will contribute to stopping this destruction from the genocidal war that is taking place in our neighbourhood,' it said.
Some passengers on the vessel reacted by raising Israeli flags and chanting patriotic slogans, eyewitnesses said.
Confirming the incident, Mano Maritime, the Israeli shipping firm operating the vessel, said: 'The ship arrived at Syros, encountered a demonstration by pro-Palestinian supporters, and passengers were stuck on board without permission to disembark.'
Israel's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, contacted his Greek counterpart, George Gerapetritis, over the incident, the Greek foreign ministry confirmed. It did not release any details of their discussion.
In recent years, Greece has become popular among Israeli tourists, reflecting the increasingly close ties between the two Mediterranean nations.
Although the protest concluded without injuries nor arrests, the episode highlighted mounting disquiet in Greece over Israel's actions in Gaza. Anti-Israeli graffiti have proliferated across the country, as has signage in support of Palestinians.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News
32 minutes ago
- Sky News
Three charged with showing support for Palestine Action
Three people have been charged with showing support for Palestine Action after the group was banned as a terror organisation. Two women and a man were arrested in Westminster following a protest in central London on 5 July, the Metropolitan Police said. Jeremy Shippam, 71, of West Sussex, Judit Murray, also 71, of Surrey, and Fiona Maclean, 53, of Hackney in London, were charged with displaying an article in a public place, arousing reasonable suspicion they are a supporter of a proscribed organisation, under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The trio are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 September. 1:29 The charges come ahead of a planned protest in support of the group on Saturday afternoon in Parliament Square in London, which organisers expect more than 500 people will attend. Defend Our Juries, which is organising the demonstration, said protests will continue until a High Court challenge over Palestine Action's ban in November. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, said: "Anyone who displays public support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, is committing an offence under the Terrorism Act and can expect to be arrested and, as these charges show, will be investigated to the full extent of the law. "These charges relate to three people arrested in central London on 5 July. "We are also planning to send case files to the Crown Prosecution Service for the other 26 people arrested on the same day. "I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions." The latest charges bring the total number of people charged with offences under the Terrorism Act related to Palestine Action to 10 across England, Wales and Scotland, Counter Terrorism Policing said. Vicki Evans, senior national coordinator for Prevent and Pursue at Counter Terrorism Policing, said: "Our role is to enforce the law where we suspect offences to have been committed and we will continue to do so, without fear or favour. "At this time, it remains illegal to be a member of or encourage support for the group Palestine Action. This legislation is specific to that group and does not interfere with the right to protest in support of the Palestinian cause. "Operational plans are in place to ensure this right can be preserved over the coming days with protests expected in several major cities, including London. "As well as robust plans to respond to activity in support of this proscribed group, resources are also in place to investigate offences that may be identified or reported following such events." More than 220 people have been arrested at protests across the UK in response to the proscription last month, as part of the campaign coordinated by Defend Our Juries, including on suspicion of membership of, inviting support for and showing support for Palestine Action. The ban on the group came after two Voyager aircraft suffered around £7m worth of damage at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June. Three days later, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action, calling the vandalism "disgraceful" and saying the group had a "long history of unacceptable criminal damage".
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Tunisian president's supporters protest against UGTT union amid rising tensions
TUNIS, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Hundreds of supporters of Tunisian President Kais Saied staged a rally outside the headquarters of the powerful UGTT union on Thursday and urged Saied to suspend the union following a transport strike last week that paralysed the country. The rally highlights growing fears among activists and opposition supporters of a possible move by Saied against one of the last major independent organisations in the North African country. Saied assumed sweeping powers in 2021, shut down the elected parliament, started ruling by decree, suspended the Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges in a move the opposition described as a coup. He said his actions were legal and intended to halt rampant chaos. The protesters chanted slogans such as "The people want the union to be suspended!" and urged Saied to intervene against what they described as "union gangs". The UGTT said it was under attack by criminal gangs which it accused of recruiting children to attack its headquarters. Union spokesman Sami Tahri also said the authorities were behind the protest rally. Dozens of union members staged a counter-demonstration and shouted anti-government slogans. "The union will remain steadfast and independent," they chanted. Police were deployed to prevent clashes between the two sides. The union's leadership will meet soon to decide on further actions, spokesman Tahri said. Thursday's rally followed a three-day nationwide transport strike led by the UGTT that paralysed land travel across Tunisia and underscored the union's continued ability to mobilise protest in a landscape increasingly dominated by Saied. Rights groups said that since 2021 the president has moved to dismantle or sideline opposition voices and civil society, opens new tab groups, imprisoned top opposition politicians and tightened control over the judiciary. The UGTT, which played a key role in Tunisia's post-revolution transition, has remained openly critical of Saied's concentration of power — making it a potential target in what critics describe as an accelerating authoritarian drift. While the UGTT initially supported Saied's decision to shut down parliament in 2021, it opposed his subsequent measures, describing them as an attempt to entrench one-man rule.
BreakingNews.ie
an hour ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Anastasia Miari: ‘I want everyone to live like a Mediterranean nonna'
Food writer and journalist Anastasia Miari's yiayia (grandmother in Greek) was 'not impressed' with her new cookbook, Mediterranea. 'She never learned to read or write, so was like, 'What do I do with this?' She was just looking for her photo in it,' says Miari with a laugh. 'But as soon as you walk into her house [in Corfu], she's got my three books on the back of her sofa and my wedding photo in the middle of them all – the biggest achievement for her in life. So I know she's proud of me.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Anastasia Miari (@anastasia_miari) She's not the only grandmother who'll be looking for their photo in Mediterranea though, a book that preserves the recipes of grandmothers across the Mediterranean basin. These formidable, fascinating women and their food are captured by photographer Marco Argüello. Drenched in sunlight, the pages are patterned with ornate kitchen tiles, antique table cloths, hardworking two ring gas burners, alongside the beautiful wrinkles of these grandmothers who have racked up years of life experience alongside a repertoire of dishes. Advertisement Miari has been cooking with grandmothers for 10 years. Her last cookbook, yiayia, focused on Greek grandmothers, including her own. In Mediterranea she meets matriarchs from the 'usual suspects' like France, Italy, Greece and Spain but 'wanted to show that the Mediterranean is so much more than just pasta, olive oil and good tomatoes. It is also the Balkans, the Levant, North Africa.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Anastasia Miari (@anastasia_miari) Miari was born in Corfu and moved to London aged 11. She lived in the UK until she was 28 and then returned to Greece six years ago to raise a family. 'My life has changed completely. Now I'm picking fruits at the market, able to actually squeeze tomatoes and smell them and know whether they're going to taste of something or not, instead of having things in plastic [from the supermarket],' she says, explaining that eating in the Med is about 'more than just fuelling your body. It's about communion, conviviality and sharing a passion for food.' (Marco Argüello/PA) The recipes – from a Greek-style risotto to a Tunisian carrot dip – are largely vegetarian ('There's no one better than grannies to teach us about zero waste, not eating too much meat and doing what you can with what you've got,') and Miari hopes they'll become staples. 'No one cooks like these women,' she says. 'If you've been making the same dish day in, day out for 70 years, you're going to have perfected it.' The simplicity and cost-effectiveness of this way of cooking – while still being delicious – is a blueprint Miari believes we can all benefit from. 'I need and want to cook like a Mediterranean nonna because I don't have time to look up recipes on Instagram. I want a repertoire of 15 amazing dishes my family will eat forever and I'll always go back to, and we're losing that in the dross of online content,' she argues. Advertisement View this post on Instagram A post shared by Anastasia Miari (@anastasia_miari) Also, these recipes are supremely achievable. 'I'm not a trained chef, I just want dinner to be easy and taste amazing, with minimum effort,' says Miari. 'Some of these women raised families of 10, and then their kids had kids, and they were raising them as well. They had to learn to do things quickly and find shortcuts.' It's also a matter of legacy. The invaluable knowledge and 'intangible heritage' contained within these recipes would be lost if Miari wasn't wrangling scales into these grandmothers' kitchens. 'They're always quite surprised when I show up with weighing scales and measuring jugs – the response is either, 'No way,' or they laugh at me,' she says wryly. For Miari, recording her yiayia's recipes was 'very special and important' for passing them down to her daughters (she's pregnant with her second), but more far reaching than that, in a world where history has often been written by men, her goal is to 'share the stories of these ordinary women, because they're extraordinary.' So the recipes are accompanied by snippets of the nonnas' lives, the good and the traumatic, be it tough childhoods, difficult marriages, lost children, absent parents or missed opportunities. 'When you're cooking, you have fewer inhibitions, your hands are busy, and there's a sense of nostalgia with the food you're cooking,' says Miari, of how these conversations happen. 'The stories are always quite profound. It is moving, I've sat and cried with them.' (Marco Argüello/PA) And this is the crux, beyond the food, Miari is interested in what these women can tell us about living and how 'the Mediterranean lifestyle is a better template' for doing it. 'Who better to show us how life is best lived than these women who have lived really long, full and happy lives?' she asks. It's also an opportunity to reflect on women's rights. 'Many of these women didn't really have a choice. They had to, for financial reasons, or because of pressure from society, get married and they had no option to have a career of their own,' says Miari. 'It's important to recognise that that threat hasn't just gone away. Look at Afghanistan, or Iran. When I spoke to the grandmothers in Turkey, they thought the future would be so much brighter for their daughters and granddaughters, but they're seeing things move backwards.' Advertisement (Marco Argüello/PA) She says that alongside the happiness and the joy in food, 'the biggest learning I have from all of these women is that life is very long. People say life is short, but your life can take so many paths. It's important to not waste that time, but it's also important not to sweat the small stuff.' She hopes this collection of stories and dishes is a chance for people to 'inject a little bit of Mediterranean living into their own lives. It's not just about eating well, it's about taking the time to just not do anything, to have a nap or to go for a swim or to go for a walk in nature,' she says, adding with a laugh: 'I want everyone to live like a Mediterranean nonna – or, at least a couple of times a week!' (Marco Argüello/PA) Mediterranea by Anastasia Miari with photographs by Marco Argüello, is published by Quadrille. Available July 31st.
