Protesters shut down Wilshire Blvd. in Sawtelle after Israel intercepts boats from Gaza flotilla

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Protesters on L.A.’s Westside shut down Wilshire Boulevard on Thursday after Israeli forces intercepted boats from an international flotilla trying to break Israel’s sea blockade of war-ravaged Gaza.

About 150 activists participated in the protest, which was held outside the Consulate General of Israel.

“There are very, very real tragedies happening — not just on a mass scale but on an individual scale and families,” a protester named Julio, who declined to give his last name, told ABC7. “People losing loved ones, losing their children, losing their parents.”

Wilshire Boulevard was reopened to traffic after the demonstration ended.

Meanwhile, other cities around the world erupted into more protests against Israeli actions in Gaza and the arrests of some 450 activists who were on the boats.

A far-right Israeli minister confronted the detained flotilla activists, mocking their aid initiative and accusing them of supporting “terrorism” in a video that was circulating on Friday.

The last boat

The last boat in the Global Sumud Flotilla, the Marinette, had been trailing behind the rest of the vessels and was still sailing on to the Palestinian territory in the early hours of Friday, a day after the Israeli navy stormed 41 other boats and detained the activists, saying they would be deported.

A livestream from the Marinette showed the moment Israeli troops boarded the vessel.

The flotilla, which was carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza, was the largest attempt so far to try and break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.

Israel’s interceptions started on Wednesday night and continued through Thursday as boat by boat was stopped off Gaza’s shore and the activists – including Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela and several European lawmakers – were detained.

Israeli authorities had warned the Marinette would be stopped too if it continued on its journey.

Among the activists detained were four Italian parliamentarians who were swiftly deported back to Rome on Friday. They were among the first known to have been flown out of Israel.

“We had a very difficult night, now we must bring everyone home,” Marco Croatti, an Italian opposition lawmaker, told journalists after landing in Rome from Tel Aviv.

Worldwide protests
The interceptions of the flotilla boats and the arrest of the activists sparked demonstrations across continents, from Latin America to Asia.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets again late Thursday and on Friday in Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland and other countries to protest the arrest of the activists and to demand an end to the war in Gaza.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted “Free Palestine!” In several places, the protesters stormed railway stations, blocked roads and clashed with police.

Activists vow to try again

One of the flotilla boats that had been sailing at the back of the convoy – and turned back to avoid an Israeli interception – returned to Cyprus’ Larnaca port on Thursday evening with 21 people aboard.

The captain of the Summertime Jong, Palestinian Osama Qashoo, 43, said he turned back as his boat’s mission was to just to support the rest of the flotilla.

The activists are “on the right side of history by being on the side of the oppressed people,” he told The Associated Press.

Malaysian activist Nadi Al-Nuri, who was also aboard the Summertime Jong and is on the flotilla’s steering committee, said that while the boats didn’t make it to Gaza and none of their humanitarian aid reached Palestinians, they won’t give up.

“We will do this again and again and until we reach our end,” Al-Nuri said. “And that is to stop the genocide and to liberate Palestine.”

Already, another flotilla of boats with dozens of activists set sail last week from Italy across the Mediterranean Sea. The nine-vessel group made up of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and the Thousand Madleens to Gaza was still days away from the Palestinian territory, according to the boats’ tracker.