Around 50 protestors gathered on the Buchanan Steps, holding banners reading "Welfare not Warfare" and "Stop arming Israel", and loudly chanting pro Palestine slogans amidst the falling rain.

The demonstration was held after the Israeli Defence Force intercepted a sailboat bound for Gaza early Monday morning.

Part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the ‘Madleen’ set out from Sicily on June 1st, and was travelling in international waters when it was boarded by the Israeli military.

A number of notable campaigners were abroad the UK-flagged yatch, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The rain did not deter protestors from gathering. (Image: Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco) One protestor told The Herald: "It's a very dangerous escalation politically to allow that sort of thing to happen, and not have any condemnation.

"It's important to show that the people of Scotland do not agree with these decisions.

"We don't think the government should be funding warfare instead of welfare."

Dylan Hamilton, a climate activist who helped load the boat before it left Sicily, spoke to the crowd.

He said: "With my own hands, I held aid, supplies, and sanitary products. The boxes were heavy in their own right, but I felt as if I carried the weight of the world in my hands.

"How could we have let this genocide unfold in front of our eyes? Are we not guilty?"

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is one of 12 detained campaigners. (Image: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs/X)In a post on X Monday morning, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the protestors had been detained, writing:

“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries.

“While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity — and which included less than a single truckload of aid — more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks.”

The Israeli government has said that the detained activists will be forced to watch graphic footage of the October 7th attacks, in which 1200 Israelis were killed by terrorist organisation Hamas.

Activists shouted a range of pro Palestine slogans. (Image: Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco) “Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen,” said Huwaida Arraf, a human rights lawyer and Freedom Flotilla organizer.

“This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade—their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”

Israel has enforced an air, land, and sea blockade of Gaza for the last eighteen years.

In 2010, six civilian ships containing humanitarian aid for the enclave were intercepted by Israeli commandos in international waters.

A scuffle broke out and ten activists were killed, leading to international outrage.