AMMAN, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of foreign activists accompanying the Viva Palestine humanitarian convoy, led by British lawmaker George Galloway, started a sit-in near the Egyptian consulate in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba on Sunday.

    The activists, including British nationals, Americans and Turks, staged the sit-in to protest Cairo's refusal to allow the humanitarian caravan to enter the Egyptian territories through the Nuweiba port en route to the Gaza Strip.

    The convoy consists of over 200 cars and trucks laden with medical supplies and other human assistance, accompanied by over 450 activists from across the world. It was scheduled to leave Aqaba on Thursday to Egypt to cross into the besieged Gaza on Sunday.

    Egypt's foreign minister said in a statement last week that the entry point for the convoy should be El Arish on the Mediterranean sea, while the convoy insists that Egypt should allow them to go through Nuweiba Port so as to enter Gaza through the Rafah Crossing Border, saying to go to El Arish port will delay the schedule.

    "We are stuck here in Aqaba for the third day in a row. There are efforts by Turkey to persuade the Egyptians to allow us to enter through the Nuweiba Port, but we have not got any response from the Egyptian officials by far," Zuheir Birawi, the convoy's spokesperson, told Xinhua.

    Meanwhile, members of tens of professional associations staged a sit-in in the Jordanian capital of Amman, calling on Egypt to allow the entry of the convoy through the Red Sea Nuweiba Port.