Thousands join pro-Palestinian demos, strikes

ROME: Tens of thousands of people protested on Monday across Italy as part of a day of action to 'denounce the genocide in Gaza', which included transport strikes and port blockades. The demonstrations came the same day as France and other countries prepared to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, following recognition by the UK, Australia and Canada on Sunday. Italy's hard-right government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said it will not recognise a Palestinian state for now.
In Rome, some 20,0000 people gathered in front of the main Termini train station, according to local police, many of them students, shouting 'Free Palestine!' and holding up Palestinian flags. Some had marched via the Colosseum, those at the front holding up a giant banner saying 'Against Genocide. Let's block everything.'
At Termini station, Michelangelo, 17, said that he was there to support 'a population that is being exterminated'. Francesca Tecchia, 18, was protesting 'for the first time', because 'what is happening (in Gaza) is too important', she said. 'Italy must come to a standstill today,' said Federica Casino, a 52-year-old worker protesting with the students for Gaza's 'dead children and destroyed hospitals'. 'Italy talks but does nothing,' she said.
In the northern city of Milan, where organisers said 50,000 people turned out, protesters burned a US flag, a reporter saw. In Bologna, more than 10,000 took to the streets, according to local police, while protesters also took place in Turin, Florence, Naples and Sicily. In Genoa and Livorno, dock workers blockaded port entrances, according to Italian media.
Strike action disrupted local buses and the metro service in Rome, while national train operators also warned of delays and cancellations. Meloni's government, which is ideologically close to US President Donald Trump, has condemned Israel's relentless assault on the besieged Palestinian territory.
It says it had not sold any Italian weapons to Israel since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas inside Israel.
But it has said it will not, for now, recognise a Palestinian state and has also expressed reluctance about implementing the European Union's proposed trade sanctions on Israel. According to a recent survey by polling company Only Numbers, published by La Stampa newspaper, almost 64 per cent of Italians consider the humanitarian situation in Gaza 'very serious' and almost 41 per cent want Italy to recognise a Palestinian state.
Recognition of a Palestinian state drew sharply contrasting reactions, with Palestinians in Gaza hailing it as a sign of hope while Israelis voiced anger and concern. In Gaza, many saw the recognition as an affirmation of their existence after nearly two years of war between Hamas and Israel.
'We shouldn't just be numbers in the news,' said Salwa Mansour, 35, displaced from Rafah to Al Mawasi, which the Israeli military has declared a humanitarian zone. 'This recognition shows that the world is finally starting to hear our voice and that, in itself, is a moral victory. 'Despite all the pain, death and massacres we're living through, we cling to anything that brings even the smallest bit of hope,' she added.
In an effort to seize Gaza City, the territory's largest urban centre, the Israeli military has recently intensified its air assaults and launched a major ground offensive. So far, more than 550,000 people have fled the city and moved southward, the military said.
On Sunday, at least 32 people were killed in Gaza City in Israeli strikes, according to the territory's civil defence agency, a rescue force. Mohammed Abu Khousa, a resident of Deir el-Balah, said he hoped that other countries would also follow suit in recognising a Palestinian state. 'When a country like Britain and Canada recognise us, it chips away at Israel's legitimacy and gives our cause a new spark of hope,' he said. — AFP