Pro-Palestinian activists arrested at Fremantle Port picket
Dozens of protesters were given move-on notices as they attempted to disrupt Israeli shipping company ZIM.
Police arrested a handful of protesters and moved on dozens more at Fremantle Port on Saturday night during a community picket against an Israeli shipping company.
Approximately 250 protesters maintained the picket line for around two hours, as they attempted to disrupt the loading of an MSC ship. MSC subcontracts vessels to Israeli company ZIM.
This was the fourth picket at Fremantle Port organised by Unionists for Palestine WA.
ZIM has used its infrastructure to aid Israel's military attacks on Palestinian people in Gaza. Unionists for Palestine organiser Sam Wainwright told protesters the goal of the picket was to cause financial damage to ZIM and its subcontractors.
"[ZIM] is a company that is not only Israeli but plays an active role in supplying the Israeli military machine," he said. "Palestinian civil society has called for a campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions to assist its freedom struggle. We're answering that call."
The protesters split into two groups to picket different port entrances, where they linked arms and sat down in front of lines of waiting police. Police soon began issuing move-on notices.
Aboriginal elder and activist Esther Joy Montgomery told The Last Place on Earth her conscience had driven her to join the picket.
"I think anyone who's got decency, morals and a sense of consciousness will be out on the streets, because what is happening to the Palestinian people is absolutely outrageous, and the Australian government have blood on their hands," she said.
Organisers said police arrested at least three protesters and loaded them into waiting vans. Police also searched the bags of some protesters.
Legal Observer Ruby Bugeja said police had demonstrated "some aggression" towards protesters and had been "on the brink" of using excessive force.
"Police have been dragging people away," she said.
"It's been quite a tense mood tonight."
Unionists for Palestine member Mikey Quinn said that, unlike previous Fremantle pickets with higher attendance, the protest had not caused material disruption for the shipping company.
"It certainly had an impact as far as the state's expenditure," he said. "They sent out large amounts of police tonight. There were 35 police at one end and probably the same again on the other. That's significant expenditure on a Saturday night for the state, but there was no impost on the shipping company at all.
"The aim is to unify this kind of protests across Australia, so they're happening in coordinated ways ... and that would have a greater impost on the companies that choose to do business with Israel."
As they debriefed with the remaining crowd afterwards, organisers said increased attendance would have helped to maintain a longer picket.
"If we can make this an empowering experience for people, where they don't have to feel like there's nothing they can do about this issue, I hope that attracts people," Mikey Quinn told The Last Place on Earth.
"I also think these campaigns have a tipping point at some point, where people go: 'Enough is enough. I'm going to do something about this issue that I feel strongly about.' I think the polling numbers are sort of showing that around the world, in Western countries anyway. The voting population is moving away from agreeing that what Israel is doing is in any ways justifiable."
The next episode of The Last Place on Earth podcast will take a closer look at Saturday's picket and the WA contingent of the global movement for Palestinian rights. Subscribe now so you don't miss it.
This article was updated on April 28 to clarify the relationship between MSC and ZIM.
