AGIOS NIKOLAOS, GREECE—Amid effective moves by Greece to prevent sail, the ships involved in Freedom Flotilla II intend to make an attempt to leave from ports here and elsewhere in the country Monday.

“The remaining boats are going to try to move — the remaining boats that can move,” David Heap, part of the steering committee of the Tahrir, the Canadian boat, told delegates in a Sunday briefing aboard the ship.

After delays and setbacks, including a Greek government edict that none of the boats be allowed to leave port, the announcement was met with cheers.

“We will move (Monday),” said Heap, 45, a professor of linguistics and French at the University of Western Ontario.

There are 22 Canadians set to sail on the Tahrir, as well as 14 delegates from Australia, Belgium, Denmark and Turkey.

Organizers say Greece, under economic pressure, is doing Israel’s bidding in blocking the attempt to break the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza before it even begins.

Israel says its sea blockade stops weapons from reaching Iran-backed Hamas militants who control Gaza.

In a similar flotilla last year, nine activists aboard the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish cruise ship, were killed by Israeli forces after a boarding attempt was met with resistance.

Those aboard the ships involved this year have signed pledges vowing non-violent resistance to any Israeli attempts to board. The ships, say organizers, carry no weapons, only humanitarian aid.

There are as many as 10 ships involved, including two cargo vessels. Only one — a small French boat that was unhindered by safety inspections and paperwork — is in a “safe” position and can sail.

Two boats have been sabotaged, organizers allege, and are undergoing repairs. The American boat, The Audacity of Hope, lost its captain last week after the boat made a run for open waters from a port in Athens without permission. He is facing charges.

For now, the Tahrir is in port here in Crete, ready to go but mired in last-minute technical requirements issued by the Greek port authority and an edict issued by the Greek minister for citizen protection that forbids flotilla ships from sailing.

Two documents are still needed, one related to the flagging of the ship — registered in the Comoros Islands — and the other to safety issues.

Moments after the announcement Sunday that the boat will move, a Greek coast guard tug tied up just metres away from the Tahrir. The coast guard tug captain offered a friendly wave, but all it would take to block the Tahrir would be a gentle thrust of the engine.

Nonetheless, the news that the boat will move came as a relief to delegates, who range in age from 23 to 77 and include doctors, a lawyer, professors and former politicians from Denmark and Belgium. About a third are grandparents.

Some have been here in this town on the island of Crete for two weeks and commitments back home are making the remaining time short. “I think we got to get out of Dodge,” David Milne, a retired social worker from Belleville, had earlier said.

Others are running out of money. The Australian crew financed their trip out of pocket and some of the pockets are near empty. Mike Coleman, 33, a youth worker and deejay, said he pre-paid three months on his mortgage before coming. At least he will have a home to return to.

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