Greek cops scuffle with protesters again as Israeli cruise ship docks in Crete

Demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza have protested the arrival of an Israeli cruise ship on yet another Greek island – the third such protest on Greek islands in the last week.

Protesters on the southern Greek island of Crete unfurled a huge Palestinian flag at the port of Agios Nikolaos. They shouted “Free, free Palestine” as tourists on board the Crown Iris disembarked and left on buses for their tours of the island, according to images shown on local media outlets.

Riot police kept the crowd away from the pier where the cruise ship was docked, while scuffles broke out between demonstrators and police. Local media report that officers used pepper spray at one point to keep the crowd back.

Four people have been detained, according to local media. Video shows police leading one man away, his arms cuffed behind his back, as he shouts “Free, free Palestine.”

Dozens of demonstrators gathered Tuesday, July 29, on the Greek island of Crete to protest the arrival of Israeli cruise ship passengers at the port of Agios Nikolaos.

Security forces implemented extensive measures around the port during the rally.
Protesters condemned Israel’s… pic.twitter.com/1v8BDwB33K

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Similar scenes unfolded the previous day when the Crown Iris docked in a port on the eastern Greek island of Rhodes, where clashes broke out between riot police and demonstrators calling for an end to the war in Gaza. There, the cruise ship’s passengers disembarked for tours of the island; no violence was reported.

Anti-war protesters on Greece’s Cycladic island of Syros were the first to hold a demonstration against the docking of the Crown Iris on July 22. On that occasion, the ship’s roughly 1,700 passengers didn’t disembark, and the ship left the island earlier than planned, with the company operating the trip, Israel’s Mano Cruise, saying it had “decided in light of the situation in the city of Syros to now sail to another tourist destination.”