Protests block Europe’s supply of weapons to Saudi

Human rights protests restrict efforts to supply weapons and military equipment to the Saudi regime from Europe against the backdrop of its horrific war crimes against civilians in Yemen.

These escalating moves show the severity of the deterioration of the Kingdom’s image externally and the growing pressure on European governments to stop selling weapons to the Kingdom.

Two years ago, human rights activists managed to abort the shipment of ammunition on the Saudi ship, “Bahri Yanbu,” where the activist Ignacio Robles was working on a team of firefighters charged with securing the shipment, but he declined to participate in what he described as a crime against the Yemeni people.

For days, Robles has been taking part in a sit-in off the sea ship originating in the Spanish port of Bilbao, and he believes that the human rights battle has yielded positive results.

He stated, “It is true that the presence of this Saudi ship in our city is something that angeres us, but we who planted the seeds of rejection faced by Saudi ships in European ports. All that was achieved now was thanks to our protest against the shipment of weapons in this port.”

After long hours of waiting, the Spanish jurists’ fears were realized, as the Yanbu nautical ship did not stop in Bilbao for technical reasons, but rather to ship materials that the Spanish authorities refuse to disclose, but the legalists have another opinion.

“The containers we have seen bear the warning sign that is used when shipping ammunition, we have seen a truck arrive at the port and how its crane transported its cargo into the ship,” said Santiago Pothas, an activist with the European rights group Welcome to Refugees.

The Saudi ship is expected to face similar protests in Italy by jurists and workers at the port of Genoa, in a continuation of the human rights movements that led to restrictions on the arms industry in Spain, which has begun layoffs of many workers.

Including the Spanish company Maxim, which is one of the most important suppliers of Saudi ammunition, which submitted, according to the El Pais newspaper, a labor restructuring plan that may include layoffs of more than 100 workers after the defense sector requests fell.

It is a situation that has been repeated with other companies, attributing its status to the position of the Spanish government, which decided two years ago not to grant any new license to sell munitions to the Saudi regime.

Two days ago, Agence France-Presse said that the authorities of the Belgian province of Wallonia announced that they had stopped selling weapons to the kingdom due to the war in Yemen, while France was witnessing protests in refusal to ship French weapons on the Saudi “Yanbu Yan” ship.

A statement issued by the Office of the President of the Wallonia Region, Elio de Robo, stated that he refused to grant export licenses to the Saudi Ministry of Defense and the Air Force because of what he called the “Yemeni tragedy”.

However, the statement stressed that the Saudi Royal Guard and National Guard will continue to receive arms shipments, as they are intended for protection purposes within Saudi Arabia’s borders.

In France, seven French organizations filed an urgent lawsuit aimed at preventing the loading of the Saudi “Bahri Yanbu” ship from arms from the port of Charbourg (in northern France).

In their lawsuit, the organizations considered that France’s continued export of arms to Saudi Arabia is in violation of international laws and the treaties signed by Paris.

The organizations held France responsible for possible war crimes committed in Yemen, while continuing to export weapons to the countries participating in this war, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

French activists, human rights activists, and representatives of political parties demonstrated on Thursday evening to demand the prevention of the Saudi ship “Bahri Yanbu” from anchoring in the port of Cherbourg.

The activists raised slogans condemning France’s continued sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, demanding that they stop them immediately, and set fire to the protest, coinciding with the shipment of what are believed to be French weapons purchased by Saudi Arabia.

Anchored in the port of Cherbourg, a Saudi naval ship, Yanbu Yan, which is specialized in transporting weapons, arrived after passing through the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The French ship faced opposition to its docking in European ports, the last of which was in France, where it had to cancel a stop scheduled at the French port of Le Havre last May, to load French “Caesar” guns, and civil organizations succeeded in preventing it from landing in Belgium.

French rights activist Benoit Muratiol said that what prompted a number of organizations to demonstrate against the landing of this ship was carrying weapons destined for Saudi Arabia, which he considered responsible for war crimes in Yemen.

He called on the French government to respect its international obligations and to stop its arms exports to Saudi Arabia. “We are here because the French government must respect its international obligations, human rights treaties, the Geneva Convention, and also the agreement on arms trade that entered into force on December 24, 2014,” he said.

Morattiol added that the French government knows that these weapons are used in war crimes, and even in crimes against humanity, so this should stop all exports to the Saudi-led coalition.

In a statement, 19 organizations condemned the shipment, saying, “for months, Saudi Arabia has been leading an uncompromising war against the Yemeni people, in which they commit atrocities against an unarmed people. We cannot accept that the Cherbourg port be placed in the service of this dispute in the name of the interests of some arms dealers and their clients.