On 7 August 2025, another blockade took place in the port of Genoa to oppose a shipment of arms headed for the Middle East. At the centre of the protest, called by both confederated and independent unions, is the Saudi ro-ro ship Bahri Yanbu, which arrived early in the morning at the GMT terminal to load two naval guns manufactured by Oto Melara (part of the Leonardo Group) in La Spezia, according to information gathered by the monitoring body Weapon Watch and the Genoese dockworkers themselves. The guns were already packed and loaded onto roll trailers on the quay. The ship was scheduled to deliver them to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The vessel came from the US port of Baltimore and, during its stop in Genoa, a group of around forty dockworkers boarded to carry out loading operations. Inside the ship's garages, they saw and photographed a shipment consisting of weapons systems, explosives, ammunition, armoured vehicles and tanks. The military equipment, loaded in Baltimore and originating from a defence plant in Alabama, was most likely bound for the same geographical region as the Italian-made guns. The Digos (Italian anti-terror police) intervened to have the images deleted, but some were nonetheless leaked and published online. The discovery of the arsenal, together with the police action, fuelled the protest even further.
The mobilisation involved both confederated and independent trade unions. The Filt Cgil union took part in a meeting at the Prefecture, where the authorities declared that the cargo complied with regulations. Nevertheless, the union decided to block the loading of the two guns due to the “highly volatile situation in the Middle East” and the ongoing “massacre of the Palestinian people” in the Gaza Strip.
The official destination of Abu Dhabi, a country not formally at war, failed to reassure the demonstrators. As highlighted by Amnesty International, the United Arab Emirates are directly or indirectly involved in various regional conflicts, including those in Yemen, Libya and Sudan. The country is also classified as an “absolute monarchy with no form of democracy” and has been accused of serious human rights violations. Furthermore, the Oto Melara 72/62 naval guns, according to Weapon Watch, were previously used by the Israeli Navy in October 2023 for bombardments against civilian neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip.
Dockworkers and peace organisations are also contesting the declaration of legitimacy made by the Italian authorities, citing Italian Law 185/1990, which prohibits the export of military equipment to countries involved in non-defensive armed conflicts. The issue is further complicated by the fact that, although the United Arab Emirates are not formally at war, they have been involved in military operations in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition.
The protest of 7 August 2025 forms part of a broader civil resistance movement that began in May 2019, when Genoese dockworkers for the first time successfully blocked the loading of military cargo onto the same vessel, the Bahri Yanbu. Since then, the Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali and the Unione Sindacale di Base, together with other trade union organisations, have developed a strategy of systematic monitoring and opposition to arms trafficking through Ligurian ports. The movement has taken on an international dimension, establishing a coordination network among dockworkers across the Mediterranean, including workers from Greece, France, Germany and North Africa. This transnational collaboration has proven crucial in tracking the movements of the Saudi Bahri fleet and coordinating blockade actions.
