The Israeli cruise ship Crown Iris, operated by Mano Maritime, is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday morning at the port of Chania in Crete, and local organizations are planning another protest at the port. But this time they are escalating the tone and calling on service providers on the island – restaurant owners, shop owners, port workers, and tour guides – not to serve Israeli tourists on the island at all.
The protest against Israeli cruise passengers is planned for Tuesday at 09:00 at Souda port near the city of Chania. This is the third protest this year against the ship, following protests held in the summer and on November 4.
The protest is being led, again, by the teachers' union ELME (the Greek teachers' federation), which will allow teachers to stop classes for three hours (09:00-12:00) to enable them to participate in the protest.
"Soldiers taking a break from killing"
In the teachers' union announcement published Monday morning in media outlets on the island, it stated, "Israel, despite the ceasefire, has not stopped bombing Gaza, killing civilians and advancing in the West Bank. The genocidal policy of the murderous state continues and will continue as long as the occupation exists. There can be no peace without justice."
According to the announcement, the cruise ship is not just transporting tourists from Israel, but "constitutes part of a systematic effort to whitewash the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank through tourism." The announcement claimed that the ship transports soldiers "taking a break from killing" and as "tourists" walk around Greece singing songs like "Death to Arabs" and "Gaza is a cemetery."
As recalled, during the ship's previous visit to Crete on November 4, police made extensive use of tear gas against protesters and made arrests. Ship passengers were delayed for a long time on buses due to the protest. In the summer, the ship's route caused a chain of protests throughout Greece.
As mentioned, this morning's announcement called on tour guides, port workers, and food service and tourism workers in Crete "to make appropriate decisions and not cooperate, not to serve the murderers from Israel."
