The Viva Palestina aid convoy to Gaza, Lifeline 5, has been met with enthusiastic reception as it makes its way through the Greek city of Thessaloniki.
Part of the aid convoy set out from London on September 18 with more vehicles joining from countries along the way, including France.
After a lengthy drive from the Greek west coast to the city of Thessaloniki, the convoy members enjoyed a break and reorganized for the next part of the journey into Istanbul in Turkey.
"We are here instead of governments. Let us say we represent the conscience of the world…This is a spiritual convoy. It is a convoy that is here to deliver aid but it is also to break the siege," Mark Holt from the Merseyside Stop the War Coalition told a Press TV correspondent during the break.
During the journey, the convoy took the opportunity to hit the streets of the big city and raise awareness of their humanitarian mission.
Throughout Europe, the convoy, organized by former British lawmaker George Galloway, has held public meetings in countries like Italy with the aim of informing the locals as well as highlighting the plight of Palestinians, especially the people of Gaza.
On May 31, a similar Turkish-backed aid convoy Freedom Flotilla, which was seeking to deliver aid to Gazans, was stormed by Israeli commandos.
The assault, which took place in international waters, claimed the lives of nine Turkish human rights activists.
"When the vicious attack on the Marmara happened, it opened up the eyes of people right around the world, even on the other side of the world and many of us felt, we had to be there," leader of the Kia Ora Gaza group, Roger Fowler, told Press TV.
"This is going to be a truly international convoy to try and break the siege and take humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza," Fowler added.
The convoy is scheduled to reach its final destination to the coastal sliver in the next few weeks.
Gaza's 1.5 million residents have been living under a crippling Israeli siege since 2006, depriving them of food, fuel and other basic necessities.
1 year ago the VIVA Palestina convoy meet confrontation with the Egyptian Police. Will it happend again???
Here the story what's happend before:
Yesterday the convoy members became the target of an orchestrated wave of violence first started by Egyptian police and then culminating in vicious attacks by unknown thugs.
The end result was a number of peace activists whose only aim is to take humanitarian aid into war torn Gaza were treated in hospital for head injuries.
Mercifully, the string of casualties was not too serious but the experience denied us the chance of fulfilling our mission to deliver aid to Gaza yesterday.
And dramatic images of the rioting and attacks could not be relayed to Press TV viewers because someone sabotaged the satellite van by deliberately cutting through a vital cable which would have beamed the shameful attacks across the world.
However, every cloud has a silver lining and I would like to take this opportunity of personally thanking the Egyptian authorities and those dark forces who tried to derail “Viva Palestina”.
The event has only served to make us stronger, unite and bond us together more and created a wave of international media interest in “Viva Palestina”.
I think it would be fair to say that when you bring a diverse group of 300 plus people together on a grueling mission to cover 5,000 miles driving across North Africa the result can result in a less than harmonious state of affairs.
To be frank, there was friction and infighting and some of us generally got on each other's nerves as you would when you are confined to close quarters with challenging living, sleeping and eating conditions.
However, the deliberate bloody-mindedness of the Egyptian authorities did something we had failed to do for ourselves ... it caused us to unite, bond and emerge stronger than ever from underneath the rows of police batons, bricks, bottles and stones.
The trouble began when the police - who were only obeying their orders - tried to break up the convoy into small groups of medical and non-medical aid.
We were told the first would go through the Rafah crossing while the latter would go through an Israeli checkpoint.
This was never going to be accepted by anyone on board the convoy. Our aim from the outset was simple: Rafah or bust.
Giving aid to the people of Gaza has nothing to do with the Israelis and I do wish they would stop trying to make themselves centre stage in an affair that does not involve Tel Aviv.
As we dug in our heels about the convoy being physically divided, the authorities decided there was only one solution - batter us into submission, after all that is what police states do.
And so, when the police tried to get physical, the convoy members followed their natural instincts and used passive resistance to defend themselves.
Egyptian police are obviously not used to confronting stroppy westerners in such large numbers and so they retreated while a second wave was sent in.
Hundreds of riot squad officers, wearing visors, carrying shields and batons tumbled in to one of the two car parks in a large town centre compound in the port of al-Arish and set about the unarmed peace activists.
They too were heroically repelled and what followed was an uneasy stand off as some convoy members received medical attention.
The net result was scores of vehicles had been able to escape the compound in which they were being held behind metal police barriers.
It was a minor victory and what followed was a very British response - the lads decided to have a game of football. I did try to persuade the Egyptian police to join in stressing they would have much more fun kicking a ball instead of kicking my comrades, but they seemed reluctant to let go of their batons.
As the night drew in the convoy leader George Galloway who was 40 kilometers down the road, was made aware of the battle of al-Arish and so he refused to cross the Rafah Border in to Gaza and returned to the convoy.
It was a hard call to make as the international media had gathered at Rafah for a party which never happened. As usual, the Israelis also played to stereotype by shelling and bombing parts of Gaza.
By the time Britain's best-known parliamentarian reached the compound night had fallen and bright stadium-style lights illuminated the two car parks.
Suddenly the area was plunged into darkness by a power cut which coincided with a brick, bottle and stone attacks on the convoy members by youths in their late teens and 20s. Seconds before the lights went out some convoy members saw a couple of unidentified men scrawling anti-Hamas slogans on lorries.
The lights remained out for some minutes, during which time the vicious attack was unleashed - the whole proceedings failed to warrant one single Egyptian police officer to swing his baton into action.
Those who had wielded their sticks with such a passion before, stood impassively by and watched the onslaught.
The power kicked back in again and the bright lights illuminated the scene to reveal several convoy members lying dazed and confused, blood dripping from gaping head wounds.
While they were ferried to hospital for treatment, there was a second power cut and a repeat of the violence.
Once again the police stood by and watched the thugs launch their attacks on unarmed and defenseless members of “Viva Palestina”.
Galloway, incandescent with rage held an urgent meeting with the governor of the region and secured assurances this would not happen again. He also secured a pledge that the convoy would be allowed to make its way to the Rafah crossing for 6am on Monday.
We're now only a few hours away from that deadline and it remains to be seen if the governor will keep his word.
But regardless of what he decides I want to thank him for pulling every single member of “Viva Palestina” into one, united front.
Thanks to him and the cack-handed police operation, “Viva Palestina” has emerged refocused and stronger than ever with one, determined goal: Rafah or bust.
And it will happen, despite the best efforts of Tel Aviv meddling and Egyptian authorities' bullying.
The people united can never be defeated.
Gaza, next stop.
Comments:
THIS SAVAGERY AND BARBARIC BEHAVIOUR OF THE EGYPTIAN REGIME ONLY MACHTES THEIR MASTERS THE BARBAROUS ISRAELI ZIONIST THIEVES! EGYPT IS A SERVANT AND A PAID SLAVE TO ZIONIST LOW LIVES!!!
this bad people are all egypt secret police, this are all young people , they alltimes going out with normal clothes, so that you dont know that are police people, everybody hate them, mubarak should go to tel aviv, that is his home, this big traitor,he is so poormindet,and senil, inschallah he will pay for all this by Allah, inschallah he forget to make tauba, inschallah
I am amazed that how low the Egyptian government has fallen. Mr. Mubarak by accepting bribe money from Zionists has sold himself, his family, his people, and his country. He earlier becomes a servant and handmaid for Israeli criminals, who are hated by the world word. and now he is a pimp by employing thugs for Zionist Israeli.
