Protest blocks access to Deltaport for three hours Friday

Traffic to a major Metro Vancouver container port terminal began flowing nearly three hours after it was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters starting around 8 a.m.

Part of the protest on the road into Deltaport was aimed at Dallas Leung, a UBC board member and vice-president of Global Container Terminals, which operates the port.

“The board of governors continues to invest UBC’s endowment in companies complicit in Israeli apartheid and genocide, and these include weapons companies like Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin that make bombs that drop in Gaza, and shipping and logistic companies, like Zim, that pass through Deltaport, and facilitate these weapon shipments,” said Sam, one of the protesters.

UBC’s president has said the university’s endowment fund does not directly own the weapon companies, but 10 per cent of its endowment — about $2.8 billion — is invested in a managed fund that includes ownership in those stocks.

The protester’s chants also included calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.

Police were on the scene. According to an afternoon release, officers told protesters to clear the road and continue their protest without blocking traffic.

Outbound traffic was restored by 10:20 a.m. and inbound traffic started getting into the port again around 11 a.m.

There were no arrests at the protest and police say none are expected. An investigation is ongoing.

Global Container Terminals says terminal operations at the port continued without interruption during the protest, despite demonstrators blocking truck access. It says there was no delay to shipping operations at the port.

The protest had dispersed by 11:30 a.m.