Pro-Palestinian protesters block Port of Tacoma entrance, saying they believe military supplies leaving for Israel

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the entrance to the Port of Tacoma early Monday morning, in an attempt to prevent military supplies from entering the port and being loaded onto ships headed to Israel.

"We are stopping the ships, we are stopping the boats, we are causing a delay in whatever they do to support, basically, sending military supplies to Israel to continue bombing our children," said Nour, a 25-year-old Palestinian at the port entrance.

Nour did not give her last name. KUOW has not been able to confirm any information around a ship picking up military supplies at the Port of Tacoma.

The Seattle chapter of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network began planning for the demonstration on Friday, after it says it received information that a ship had left Oakland, Calif., and was headed to Tacoma to pick up military supplies destined for Israel.

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"I'm just sick of it," Nour said. "I see that there is action being taken, and I have to step up. It's my people. I have to step up with the rest of the world that isn't scared of speaking for the truth."

"Gaza is my family. Palestine is my family. They are all my family," she added.

Nour said that protesters planned to stay at the entrance until port workers go home.

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Pentagon spokesperson Jeff Jurgensen said, "The Department of Defense is aware of the incidents in question," when asked about the protests at the Port of Tacoma and any potential ship transporting military aid.

"We work closely with interagency partners, to include the Department of Transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement — as appropriate — to ensure the security and safety of military assets and personnel operating at commercial port facilities. The vessel is currently under the operational control of U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command and is supporting the movement of U.S. military cargo. Due to operational security, DoD does not provide further transportation, movement details or information regarding the cargo embarked on these vessels. We have no further information to provide at this time.”

"As an Indigenous person, our history just parallels and mirrors that of the Palestinians," protester Shyanne Steele said. She is Okanagan Syilx. Her grandparents went to Kamloops residential school in British Columbia, where a mass grave of Indigenous children was recently unearthed. She said she connected particularly with the Palestinian displacement and the brutality they are enduring currently in Gaza.

The Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an international organization that says it is "working to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom."

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The organization has been banned in Germany after the government there says its activists were found celebrating Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left 1,400 dead (mostly civilians) and took more than 200 hostages, also mostly civilians. The group in Berlin was reportedly handing out candy in celebration of the attack. German authorities said the action was part of the country's ban on Hamas' activities. In response, the activist group issued a statement claiming Germany was complicit in genocide.

More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military response to Hamas' attack, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Monday's protest was also organized by the Arab Resource & Organizing Center and Falastiniyat, a "grassroots collective of diasporic Palestinian feminists in Seattle living and organizing at the intersection of gender justice and anti-colonialism."

KUOW has reached out to the Port of Tacoma and the Coast Guard for comment on the protest and any potential ship carrying military aid. This post will be updated if more information becomes available.

Nov. 6, 2023, 12:37 p.m.: This post has been updated to include a statement from the Pentagon.