Italian Workers Refuse To Load Saudi Weapons Ship In Protest Over Yemen Atrocities

Fact checked

Italian unions have refused to load cargo onto a Saudi ship carrying weapons in protest against the Kingdoms aggression against Yemen.

Union workers said they would not be complicit in what was happening.

Some protesters and human rights activists gathered at the port city of Genoa carrying banners that said “No to war.”

The Bahri-Yanbu ship had been loaded with weapons in Antwerp, Belgium earlier this month, but was successfully blocked from picking up additional arms at the French port of Le Havre following a similar protest. 

The Independent reports: Unions in the northern Italian city initially lobbied to have the vessel banned, but their efforts failed and the Bahri-Yanbu docked there earlier this week. 

It was met by protesters. One carried a sign which read “no to war”.

Union workers then refused to load the generators.

“We will not be complicit in what is happening in Yemen,” the group’s leaders said in a statement. 

The workers said that although the generators were marked for civilian use, there was a risk they would instead be redirected to Yemen.

Port officials said non-critical goods were loaded but the generators were left on the quay.

At least 6,872 people are believed to have died in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which began in 2015. A further 10,768 civilians have been wounded. Most of the casualties were killed or injured in Saudi-led airstrikes, prompting international condemnation.

The war has also left much of the surviving population on the brink of famine.

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.