BARCELONA: A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, left Barcelona on Sunday vowing to try to “break the illegal siege of Gaza”, organisers said.
Some 20 vessels set off from the port city on Spain’s east coast just after 3.30 pm (1330 GMT) pledging to “open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people”, said the Global Sumud Flotilla — sumud being the Arabic term for “resilience”.
The group defines itself on its website as an independent organisation with no affiliation to any government or political party.
The flotilla, flying Palestinian flags, has hundreds of people aboard, among them activists from dozens of countries including Irish actor Liam Cunningham and Spain’s Eduard Fernandez. Also aboard were European lawmakers and public figures including former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.
The flotilla is expected to arrive at the war-ravaged coastal enclave in mid-September.
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