The fishing trawler “Marianne of Gothenburg” left Gothenburg, Sweden on May 10, 2015, to meet the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The trawler, which has been acquired by Ship to Gaza Sweden and Ship to Gaza Norway jointly, departed for a voyage of almost 5000 nautical miles to eastern Mediterranean and the Gaza Strip which is blockaded by Israel.
The “Marianne” will join other ships and together they will form the “Gaza Freedom
Flotilla 3″ in order to perform a peaceful, nonviolent action to break the illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip. The “Marianne” will call at European ports for demonstrations against the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The first three stops on the voyage are Helsingborg, Malmö and Copenhagen. Subsequent ports will be announced in later press releases. Cargo Marianne is not a cargo-ship, but she will bring a limited cargo of, among other things, solar cell panels and medical equipment.
In the blockaded Gaza Strip, where the infrastructure has been demolished, solar cells will provide an opportunity to independent local production of clean energy.
The sun can not be blockaded. Delegates in addition to a crew of five people, Marianne will have up to eight delegates as passengers in each section of the route. The names of these
individuals will be announced as time progress.
Passengers In the first leg of the voyage are among others:
- Maria Svensson, spokesperson, Feministiskt initiative
- Mikael M Karlsson, Chairperson, Ship to Gaza Sweden
- Henry Ascher, professor of Public Health, pediatrician
- Lennart Berggren, filmmaker
- Dror Feiler, musician, spokesperson of Ship to Gaza
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