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WATCH Protesters Heap Scorn on Commissioning of Newest US Warship

CC0 / / USS Portland (LPD 27)
USS Portland (LPD 27) - Sputnik International
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April 21 saw a ceremony to commission the USS Portland, a San Antonio-class advanced amphibious ship, due to be equipped with laser technology.

About 100 people have staged a protest rally in Portland to say "no" to a state-of-the-art US assault ship being put on service.

Chanting anti-government slogans, the protesters called for the elimination of American troop deployment overseas and issued demands such as "stop the US war machine."

"There is no reason why we should be spending two billion dollars on a warship when we have people right here in our city who are dying from sleeping in the streets. Because we spend billions and billions of dollars on foreign wars killing civilians abroad," Olivia Katbi Smith said. 

Her remarks came during Saturday's commissioning ceremony for the $1.6 billion warship, which will become the 11th ship in its class to join the US Navy.

READ MORE: US Guided-Missile Destroyer Named After Winston Churchill Joins 6th Fleet — Navy

Earlier, the United States Naval Institute (USNI)'s website reported that the amphibious transport dock Portland "would serve as the flagship of this summer's RIMPAC 2018 international biennial maritime exercise in Hawaii, and then be outfitted with a next-generation Laser Weapon System (LaWS) developed by the Office of Naval Research."

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