Italians strike on stage in support of Palestinians

Workers in Italy joined a common strike on Friday, not for better pay or conditions, but in solidarity with Gaza people.

Large crowds took to the streets of many cities against the backdrop of a growing wave of protest across Europe in the bombing of Israel and the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Italian Interior Ministry says that up to 400,000 protesters have come out in 29 seats; The unions claim that the number was four times larger than that.

The anger intensified this week when the Israeli military got on a fleet of boats full of European politicians and activists and stopped them from providing food and medical assistance to Gaza, where his supported experts confirmed the hunger in Gaza and his surrounding areas.

Israel rejected the fleet as a stunt cascade. There were more than 40 Italians on board.

The difficult right -wing Prime Minister of Italy Georgia Meloni criticizes the common strike, arguing that this will not progress in the Palestinian cause and will only interfere with Italian people who are trying to continue their lives. She suggested that the Unionists just wanted a long weekend.

Her deputy Mateo Salvini, called the strike illegal, announced without sufficient notice and threatened the sanctions.

The large numbers turned out to be independently, behind banners with slogans like “Stop the slaughter” and “The hands of the fleet!”.

In several cities, including Milan and Bologna, there were clashes, with protesters throwing stones at the police and then sprayed with tear gas.

In a Pisa group with brightly colored flames, it stormed the airport runway, stopping flights for some time, while in Naples Doc workers blocking the harbor. In Turin, protesters pulled metal barriers to the railways.

There were protests in other European cities from the Hague to Madrid.

Here in Rome, the main hike was big but peaceful.

“Governments, especially the Italians, do not take action against what is happening in Gaza,” says University teacher Francesca, explaining why she joined the walk.

Students at Sapienza University, where she works, organize meetings at several faculties.

“We are here to say it’s time to intervene and solve things,” Francesca said.

An external Termini railway station a small tent camp appeared with a sign announcing its address as “Piazza Gaza”. A giant minimalist statue of Pope John Paul II is dressed in a Palestinian scarf.

After passing quietly through this and through the center of the capital, part of the crowd briefly occupies part of the highway around Rome. Removing giant Palestinian flags and holding flames, they called “We block everything”, then went through a long tunnel that increased their chants as police stood up and watched.

“This is the best face of our country. Italy is better than the people now in the government,” opposition leader Eli Shline told the BBC at the beginning of Roman March.

The Democratic Party leader claims that the Italian Prime Minister has not been able to call the “crimes of the Israeli government” in Gaza, as she sees it, and described it as a “shame” that Italy has not joined the growing number of countries that now recognize Palestinian statehood.

Israel has called this move by many itself the “brand of shame”.

Georgia Meloni recognized his government conditional for the release of all Israeli hostages and the exclusion of Hamas from the government. It also emphasizes Italy’s support for Gaza Peace proposal Prepared by her close ally and the main support of Israel, President Donald Trump.

But Meloni also recently spoke of “too many innocent victims” in Gaza and said the response of Benjamin’s government Netanyahu to Hamas’s terrorist attacks of 2023 “exceeded the principle of proportionality.”

“This is serious. Certainly the whole issue of Gaza puts pressure on melons. It actually changed the government’s position to be more critical of Israel,” Prof. Giovanni Orsina, a political scientist at the University of Louis, told the BBC.

He points out that Catholic public opinion is “outraged” by Gaza events. Most of all, however, he sees the protest wave as the “awakening” of the leftist forces of Italy.

“It is a very clear demonstration that there is a leap in militancy and this includes a very significant number of people. The government is under pressure and I think it’s nervous.”

As allies, students and activists were still marching in many cities, the four Italian politicians who were detained for the help of the help of Gaza were landed back in Rome.

Deported by IsraelThey were greeted at the airport with warm hugs from their family and colleagues.

More than 40 colleagues Italians are still in custody.

The load of the fleet’s assistance was confiscated and the humanitarian access to the gas has not improved, but Benedetta Scauderi, a MEP for the Green Left Union, still calls the journey a “huge achievement”.

“Many of us went because we felt powerless that we could not do anything about what was happening in Gaza,” she told the BBC shortly after bringing home. “I like to think that some population hope has been given.”

“Everything about the fleet, the protests, the blows – they are huge. We have not seen them in a long time and I do not think that every responsible government can just pretend that nothing is happening.”