Military ship sparked 12-hour protest during stop in Tacoma. No arrests made, police say
A military ship some people believed stopped at the Port of Tacoma on Monday to pick up weapons for Israel departed following a 12-hour protest.
No one was arrested, and damage at the port was reported to be minor, mostly spray-painted slogans on port property, Tacoma police said Tuesday.
Hundreds of people gathered at the port Monday to protest the arrival of the MV Cape Orlando. Some used their cars to block the entrance to the terminal where the ship was moored. Others marched, carried signs opposing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and chanted slogans, including “Ceasefire now” and “Free Palestine.”
The protest began about 5 a.m. at the Port of Tacoma’s Husky Terminal. Some Tacoma Police Department officers showed up in the afternoon equipped with riot gear, but the protest remained peaceful.
The MV Cape Orlando was previously in Oakland, California, allegedly to pick up weapons for Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war. Protests also erupted in Oakland, with people attempting to board the ship and tampering with mooring lines, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release.
Abby Brook, one of the organizers of the Tacoma protest, announced to protesters Monday afternoon that workers were able to load equipment into the ship, but that the protest was successful in delaying the Cape Orlando’s departure.
“We were here for 12 hours, “ Brook said. “We showed the world that Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, no one in the Pacific Northwest is going to say it’s OK to commit genocide. Every minute that we delayed them, we cost the government thousands of dollars. Every minute that these weapons weren’t going to bomb people Palestine, they were saving lives.”
Brook also announced that one of the workers on the MV Cape Orlando stepped off the boat, a claim that could not be verified by The News Tribune.
“We showed solidarity with the workers on that boat, and, because of that, one of the workers on the boat stepped off and said, ‘I will not be complicit in this genocide,’” Brook said.
Brook’s announcements were followed with loud cheers and chants of “shame.”
According to TPD spokesman and detective William Muse, the Cape Orlando left the port despite the delay.
A spokesperson for the Department of Defense declined to provide to The News Tribune information about the Cape Orlando’s whereabouts or cargo.
The war began on Oct. 7 after Hamas, a terrorist group governing the Gaza Strip, launched an attack against Israel. The war has claimed the lives of 1,400 Israelis and about 10,000 Palestinians, according to the Associated Press.
This story was originally published November 7, 2023 at 12:24 PM.
