- Pro-Palestine port protests in Australia
- Blockade disrupts ZIM Ganges docking
- Demonstrations spark police response
Pro-Palestine demonstrations in Australia have increasingly focused on ports, as demonstrators target Israeli vessels and those suspected of having ties with Palestine.
Last week, dozens of individuals attempted to prevent the ZIM Ganges container ship from docking at the Port of Melbourne. Authorities eventually resorted to pepper spray to disperse the blockade, set against a backdrop of shipping containers and cranes, symbols of an industrialized world on a global scale.
The obstruction of the pier’s access and the subsequent closure of the Victorian International Container Terminal (VICT) led to the arrest of several individuals. According to voluntary legal observers (MALS) accompanying the demonstrators, approximately 200 police officers, including mounted units, were present.
Tasnim Mahmoud Sammak, from the community organization Free Palestine Melbourne, witnessed the four-day blockade. “My family members are stranded in the besieged prison that Gaza has become,” she explained.
Sofia Sabbagh, a prolific Palestinian artist based in Melbourne, was also present for the crucial confrontation. They intimidatingly formed lines around us,” she recounted, adding that the group complied with a request to move to avoid arrest.
Peaceful Protest Meets Police Force
Legal observers reported that the crowd was not threatening; individuals were heard chanting.
Sabbagh continued, “Once we moved to public property, police forcibly separated us from our medical supplies and equipment. They pulled one individual from a wheelchair and pushed over a large number while pepper-spraying over twenty others. Seeing someone dragged from their wheelchair was profoundly traumatic for me.”
Victoria Police stated that pepper spray was used in response to the “dynamic nature” of the blockade and the perceived threat from “aggressive” demonstrators.
Following around a dozen arrests, the weary activists gathered at Sandridge Beach. There, Declan Furber Gillick, a revolutionary Black People’s Union representative, delivered a stirring speech advocating “peaceful, people-powered, revolutionary tactics” before the group disbanded and left.
The port was besieged on January 19, hours before the ZIM Ganges, flying the Portuguese flag, arrived in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city.
ZIM initially transported Holocaust survivors to Israel after its founding in 1945. ZIM, now the tenth-largest shipping company in Israel, has faced criticism since CEO Eli Glickman pledged to meet all of Israel’s needs following the October 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent declaration of war on Gaza.
Port Melbourne, Australia’s largest commercial port, handles approximately 8,850 containers daily. VICT announced that the demonstrations had “virtually ceased operations” for nearly four days following the police dismantling the picket line.
Radical Action as Tradition
A motley group of activists, working in shifts, prevented six consecutive shifts of port workers from accessing the terminal. Consequently, the ZIM Ganges anchored in the bay until it could finally dock around midnight on January 21.
The blockade, initially organized by Unionists for Palestine (U4P), gradually gained wider attention. By January 20, it had become a broad coalition of Palestinian, First Nations, and antiwar organizations.
Fiona Healey, a U4P member, explained that the protest aimed to disrupt the company’s supply chain because it “continued to support and supply an apartheid regime.”
John Smith, another community organizer, echoed this sentiment. “In solidarity with the Palestinians’ call to disrupt all companies complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, we targeted the Port of Melbourne, including ZIM shipping,” he stated.
MUA members, including dock workers, were urged not to cross the picket line for health and safety reasons.
Dockworkers’ Solidarity Fuels Protest Impact
Many dockworkers, who could have been escorted onto the terminal by police, chose not to cross the picket line. Over $26,469 was raised through an online fundraiser for the workers, initially unpaid for the days they did not work. However, after the union secured pay for the port workers, the funds were redirected to Gaza relief efforts.
Ben Hjorth of U4P linked the movement to a broader “anti-war” movement within the Australian trade union movement. He referenced Nelson Mandela’s 1990 Melbourne speech thanking Australian workers for leading the international boycott of ships bound for apartheid-era South Africa. Hjorth described the MUA’s successful yet revolutionary industrial actions as an inspiration, stating, “Sometimes it is necessary to break the law to effect change.”
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Bruno Porchietto, CEO of VICT, told Channel 7 in Australia that the port likely lost “50,000 containers” and Victoria “millions of dollars” due to the four-day protest.
State treasurer Tim Pallas said the blockage would have a “minimal effect” on the economy over time.
Protesters monitored the ZIM Ganges’ approach to the pier using the vesselfinder.com tracking platform. They said the ship and two tugboats stopped GPS tracking upon approaching the port, leaving the ZIM Ganges gap.
“This is highly unusual behaviour,” stated Hjorth of U4P.
According to Australian maritime law, ships can only turn off their GPS tracking for safety and security reasons.
Since the demonstrations, other vessels have docked in Melbourne without incident.
However, the possibility of further action remains.
“Our goal is to disrupt Israeli supply channels until there is a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the occupation,” Hjorth stated.
The ZIM Ganges was scheduled to arrive in Sydney on Monday. In November, protesters rallied against another ZIM vessel. According to the schedule, the ship is also expected to proceed to Brisbane, further up the eastern coast.
