UPDATE 1700 GMT: The caption of the Audacity of Hope has been charged with a felony and will meet with prosecutors on Tuesday. Passengers are still aboard the ship, which has been impounded, in solidarity with the captain.
The Audacity of Hope leaves port on Friday
On Friday, a ship of the "Freedom Flotilla 2", trying to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, was towed back to port by the Greek Coast Guard after it was intercepted by Greek commandos.
The Audacity of Hope, carrying dozens of US activists including Nobel Prize laureate Alice Walker, is one of nine vessels seeking to deliver aid. It left the port of Perama but was cut off after an hour as commandos pointed live weapons at the ship. (Joseph Dana, a journalist for the Nation magazine, live-Tweeted the episode from The Audacity of Hope.)
The Greek Embassy in Israel put out a statement confirming that the Greek Coast Guard has enforced a decision by the Civil Defence to prevent all flotilla vessels from leaving port. Greece's Civil Protection Ministry said coast guard authorities had been ordered to take "all appropriate measures'' to implement the ban.