A lot of people in Italy are protesting and going on strike for Gaza.
On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people rallied all around Italy as part of a huge strike against the way the Gaza aid flotilla was treated and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s cautious position on the situation.
Protesters were angry that Rome spoke out against the Global Sumud Flotilla, which sailed to break Israel’s siege of Gaza. The UN has said that conditions in Gaza are like those of a famine after nearly two years of war.
Many others wanted more from Meloni, who has been criticized for not speaking out more firmly about the situation in Gaza or recognizing the State of Palestine.
The CGIL, one of the two unions that called the strike, reported that more than two million people in Italy had taken part in more than 100 protests.
Maurizio Landini, the head of CGIL, said, “The extraordinary and unprecedented participation of young people, who are calling for a future of peace.”
People marched and flashmobbed all over the country, from Turin and Trento in the north to Bari and Palermo in the south. They blocked highways and train tracks.
During the strike, trains were canceled or delayed, certain schools were closed, and even some convicts stopped working.
Police say that at least 80,000 people marched in Rome. The people in charge said there were 300,000.
“STOP THE WAR”
Giordano Fioramonti, 19, was one of them. He was demonstrating with other young people, college students, and academics.
“It’s also our civic duty to show how angry and unhappy we are with what is happening in the world, with our government, to show our support for the flotilla, especially for Palestine, for the Gazans who are being killed, tortured and massacred,” Fioramonti told AFP.
According to police, more than 80,000 people protested in Milan, with a sea of people clapping and waving the Palestinian flag as they walked through the streets. They carried a huge sign that said, “Free Palestine, Stop the War Machine.”
Television footage revealed that police used smoke bombs to deter several hundred protestors who had broken away from the main march to take over a ring road in Milan.
Organizers reported that 50,000 people were rallying in Turin, 40,000 in Genoa, and 10,000 were blocking the port of Naples.
Local news reports said that commercial traffic was halted at the port of Livorno. Pictures from Bologna showed demonstrators walking along a part of the highway that goes around the city. This highway is an important link between the south and northeast of the country.
Protesters in Pisa broke into the airport’s runway area, which caused several planes to be delayed and the airport to close for a brief time.
MELONI CALLS THE FLOTILLA “DANGEROUS”
The Italian foreign ministry said that Israel had freed four Italian MPs from the flotilla, which had 40 Italians on board.
The ministry claimed that the two members of parliament and two members of the European Parliament were supposed to return to Rome on Friday.
Elly Schlein, the head of the Democratic Party (PD), the biggest opposition party, said, “The flotilla was trying to do what European governments and the European Union should be doing: breaking this blockade of humanitarian aid that is causing a real famine in Gaza.”
“We want a complete arms embargo, just like Spain voted for. “We want the State of Palestine to be fully recognized,” she told AFP.
Meloni termed the flotilla a “dangerous, irresponsible” project, even though Italy dispatched a navy ship to help.
At an EU conference in Copenhagen on Thursday, she spoke out against the national strike and said, “long weekends and revolution do not go together.”
In the past few weeks, there have been a lot of rallies against Meloni because she doesn’t want to openly criticize Israel and doesn’t want to go against US President Donald Trump.
One demonstrator in Rome on Friday, Giuliano Ferrucci, 60, said, “You say you are a Christian Italian mother, but you should know that your policies toward Israel offend Christians, mothers, and all Italians who do not feel represented.”
The strike watchdog in Italy said that Friday’s action was illegal since the unions didn’t offer the requisite 10 days’ notice.
“It is not just any strike; it has a huge emotional impact and needs to be handled with care,” Paola Bellocchi, head of the Strike Guarantee Commission, told the Corriere della Sera daily.