Cypriot dockworkers join global protest against Gaza war

Dockworkers staged protests at the ports of Limassol and Larnaca on Friday as unions at more than 100 ports across four continents took part in an International Day of Action against Israel’s war in Gaza. The port workers’ union (Segdamelin-Peo) organised the events to mark the second International Day of Action for Dockworkers, held under the slogan “Ports for Peace”. The union said ports were “critical hubs” for the economy and trade, but that their infrastructure was being used to transport military equipment. Workers should not “pay the price for wars and rivalries”, it said, adding that Cypriots knew “what war, occupation, partition and militarisation mean”. It also called for decent wages, stable jobs, collective agreements and better health and safety protection. Heavy spending on a war economy, it said, led to “austerity and cuts to healthcare, education, pensions and wages”. The international action is backed by the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which said more than 25 unions from 22 countries were taking part, along with seafarers and metalworkers. Dockworkers in France, Italy, India, Greece and Turkey have called 24-hour strikes, while others are holding rallies in port cities; seventeen Palestinian trade unions and confederations have likewise endorsed the day. The unions are demanding an end to “militarisation” and to what they describe as “Israel’s genocide against Palestinians”. Markos Bekris, president of the Greek dockworkers’ union (Enedep), said unions representing tens of thousands of workers were taking a stand “from Piraeus to Genoa and from Marseille to Istanbul”. Sara Elettra, who coordinates maritime and energy embargo campaigns for BDS, said more than 90 per cent of Israel’s imports arrived by sea, making dockworkers a choke point for its economy. She said governments were legally obliged to impose a full military embargo on Israel after the International Court of Justice’s 2024 rulings. “Where states fail to act, workers will,” she said. Jamal Juma, of the Palestinian trade union coalition, said dockworkers who had blocked ships and arms shipments bound for Israel had shown “the collective power of organised labour”.