The Portuguese members of the Global Sumud humanitarian flotilla landed at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport at around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, where they were greeted by family members and pro-Palestinian supporters.
As soon as news of the flight’s arrival appeared on the airport’s arrival screens, the crowd of supporters, which quickly grew from a few dozen to around three hundred, began chanting slogans such as “Palestine Will Live” and “Long Live the Palestinian Struggle, Israel Is a Murderous State.”
The atmosphere remained calm and without incident as those gathered awaited the arrival of the activists, who had been repatriated from Israel. The group had travelled from Tel Aviv to Spain before continuing on to Lisbon following a brief stopover in Madrid.
Among those detained in Israel since the night of Wednesday to Thursday were Left Bloc leader Mariana Mortágua, actress Sofia Aparício, and activists Miguel Duarte and Diogo Chaves. They were part of the roughly 50 vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which had set out to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip when intercepted by Israeli forces.
Waving Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, demonstrators held up placards reading “Free Palestine” and “Thank You Mariana, Sofia, Diogo and Miguel for Representing Us.”
Present among the crowd were several former and current Left Bloc figures, including Francisco Louçã, Catarina Martins, Luís Fazenda, and Jorge Costa.
The Portuguese activists arrived in Madrid around 8:20 p.m. local time (7:20 p.m. in mainland Portugal) as part of a group of 29 activists: four Portuguese, 21 Spanish, and four Dutch.
Representing the government, the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Emídio Sousa, was present at the airport to receive them.
The Portuguese citizens, along with more than 450 activists from various nationalities, had been taken by Israeli authorities to a detention centre in the Negev desert, in southern Israel, after their vessels were intercepted by the Israeli Navy in international waters.
