A woman walks along the San Francisco Bay Trail as a container ship docked at the Port of Oakland is loaded as seen from Alameda, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
OAKLAND — Pounding drums and chanting “stop the occupation,” scores of protesters gathered Friday at the Port of Oakland to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
The protest began nearly an hour before sunrise Friday and continued into the afternoon around the Cape Orlando vessel, a ship with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, authorities said. It had been docked at Berth 20, and was later seen leaving the port mid-afternoon.
The protest’s organizers said they believed the ship was carrying military supplies, though that claim could not be immediately verified.
A Bay Area News Group photographer saw at least three people being detained after scaling a ladder leading up the side of the ship. No arrests were immediately announced by the U.S. Coast Guard, which said the incident remains under investigation.
The protest comes nearly a month after an attack by Hamas on people living across southern Israel on Oct. 7 left more than 1,400 Israelis dead. Hundreds of other people were taken hostage. Israel has since bombarded Gaza with missiles and, more recently, embarked on a grinding invasion of Gaza, leading to thousands of Palestinian deaths in a conflict that has raised concerns of a burgeoning humanitarian crisis.
Staff photographer Ray Chavez contributed to this report.
Originally published at Jakob Rodgers