'Stop taking anything from Israel': Block the Boat movement aims to halt cargo ship at Seattle...

Demonstrators gathered near the Port of Seattle Thursday afternoon.

Their aim – was to block the unloading of a cargo ship owned by the shipping company ZIM, which was founded in Israel.

Demonstrators are using the ship’s arrival as a way to protest Israeli actions in Gaza last month.

Aisha Mansour is with Falastiniyat, a feminist grassroots collective which organized the protest. “We’re hoping to have a non-violent protest today where we just basically have some civic disobedience and we tell people, 'Hey, don’t benefit from Israeli apartheid,'" she said. "This is how we liberated South Africa from apartheid and we’re just trying to tell our ports, stop taking anything from Israel.”

The union representing dockworkers supports the demonstrators’ first amendment rights, it said in a statement.