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The first six Greek activists condemned the illegal detention of the Greeks at Ashdod port in Israel and the violence they faced after their arrival at the airport Eleftherios Venizelos this morning. They characterized Israel’s action as “piracy” and they stressed that the ships carried only humanitarian aid and were thoroughly checked before departing from their ports.
As Aristidis Papadokostopoulos stated, on the Greek ship was humanitarian aid, wheelchairs, prefabricated homes and medical supplies.
According to the activist when the ship was raided by the Israelis, the Free Mediterranean was 70 miles away from the waters of Gaza.
He described the Israeli actions as “clearly piratical” and underlined that “we can not allow Israel to play the role of the policeman.”
On his part, activist D. Gelalis from Larissa said that “around four o’clock in the morning we saw inflatable boats everywhere approaching us and within seconds fully armed commandos boarded the vessel.”
Activists also tell of beatings and use of electric shock and said, “We didn’t even have the right to get up of the chair. We had to raise our hands to use the toilet.”
The rest of the Greeks which are illegally detained will be brought against Israeli justice as Thanos Petrogiannis, an engineer from the Greek university, stressed.
“We went to offer help. According to the Israelis 80 miles away from the land is considered Israeli international waters and that we had entered their country illegally,” he said.
He continued by saying, “The ones who are still detained refused to sign any papers given to them by the Israelis. They will be taken to court in about 10-15 days.”
He added, “That the humanitarian aid carried by the ships bound for the Gaza strip has been seized.”
The use of violence from the Israeli commandos was condemned by the activist Michalis Grigoropoulos.
“We were in international waters. The Israelis hijacked our ship. They took us hostage as they kept aiming guns at our heads,” he said. He continued by saying that, “I was the steersman of the boat. They descended from the helicopters dropping and threw tear gas. We didn’t resist, we couldn’t do anything against the commandos.“
He also witnessed the use of electroshock to whoever tried to create a human shield in front of the bridge. Concerning the conditions of the detainment he said, “They wouldn’t even let us use the toilet, eat or drink water as they also made videos of us.
As far as the confiscation of the humanitarian aid and other personal belongings is concerned Michalis Grigoropoulos stated, “They confiscated everything. They left nothing but my papers. They took mobiles, laptops, cameras and personal belongings.”
He also said that he refused to sign papers submitted to him by the Israelis and he was removed against his will.
”They did not let me contact my lawyer or even the Greek embassy,” he said. He continued by accusing the Greek government by saying that, “Taken to trial will be the ones who refused to sign Israeli documents. The Greek government has done nothing to safeguard the Greek ships. They did not do anything to prevent them from jumping on our ships.”
Israeli claims
On the other side, the spokesman of the defence ministry in Israel, Sady Muoni, speaking on NET, said that the passengers of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara aimed at provoking us.
He insisted that the occupants of the ship tried to lynch the Israeli soldiers while he claimed that an activist fired first.
Following that, Muoni added that the soldiers had to use violence.
Greek protest
The ambassador of Greece in Israel responded to the illegal detainment of Greek activists by Israel with a protest, calling for their immediate release.
He states that the arrest of the activists took place in international waters and that Israel could not ask from the detainees to sign documents for attempting to enter the country illegally.
According to the latest reports, 610 people have been transferred to Dire Sheva prison and held as prisoners until their cases are heard by the Israeli court.
Amongst the 610 prisoners are 31 Greeks, in which the Greek ambassador of Tel Aviv is going to visit.
From their part, Israeli authorities note that they are not held as prisoners but detained in a specially designed place in prisons.
Even though the custody of the Greek activists remains unclear, in Jerusalem and in parts of Northern Israel, Israeli Arabs are protesting against the bloody attack against the Freedom Flotilla.
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