{"id":24881,"date":"2025-10-04T04:53:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T04:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=24881"},"modified":"2025-10-05T10:09:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T10:09:58","slug":"pressure-mounts-on-melonis-govt-as-gaza-protests-paralyse-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=24881","title":{"rendered":"Pressure mounts on Meloni\u2019s gov\u2019t as Gaza protests paralyse Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Union says more than two million protested on <\/em>Friday, with a massive turnout expected tomorrow for the Rome protests.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pro-Palestinian
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest during a nationwide strike to condemn the Israeli forces’ interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels aiming to reach Gaza and break Israel’s naval blockade, in Rome, Italy, October 3, 2025 [Yara Nardi\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Italy as part of a general strike in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a> that was intercepted by Israel this week while trying to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than two million people attended Friday\u2019s protests after the strike was called by several trade unions \u201cin defence of the flotilla\u201d, which was carrying a total of 40 Italians, and to \u201cstop the genocide\u201d, the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) wrote on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turin-based daily La Stampa reported that the mobilisation involved the public and private sectors, \u201chalting rail, air, metro, and bus transport, healthcare, and schools. Among the many acts of dissent, protesters blocked highways near Pisa, Pescara, Bologna, and Milan and shut down access to the port of Livorno, said the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police told the news agency AFP that more than 80,000 people demonstrated in Milan, where a sea of people clapped and waved the Palestinian flag as they made their way through the streets, carrying a massive banner reading: \u201cFree Palestine, Stop the War Machine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not just any strike. We\u2019re here today to defend brotherhood among individuals, among peoples, to put humanity back at the centre, to say no to genocide, to a policy of rearmament,\u201d CGIL leader Maurizio Landini was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting from Rome, Al Jazeera\u2019s Milena Veselinovic said the turnout across the country included \u201cso many people from various walks of life. You\u2019ve got students, you\u2019ve got retired people, many people with their small children also coming out\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protests
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathering in Rome for the national general strike called by different unions to protest against the situation in Gaza, on October 3, 2025 [Alessandra Tarantino\/AP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Major turnout expected in Rome on Saturday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Massive protests are planned for tomorrow in Rome, where the CGIL reported 300,000 participants on Friday, with crowds set to depart from the town square, Piazzale Ostiense, at 2:30pm (12:30 GMT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, we were hundreds of thousands. Tomorrow for Palestine we must be a million,\u201d said Maya Issa, leader of the Palestinian Student Movement, cited by Rome-based daily La Repubblica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea Dessi, an assistant professor of international relations and global politics at the American University of Rome, told Al Jazeera that the Italian government had been \u201ccaught on its back foot\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni this week announced Italy would recognise a Palestinian state if Israeli captives were freed and Hamas was shut out of future governance, protesters believed Meloni\u2019s support for a Palestinian state should have been unconditional, Dessi said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get instant alerts and updates based on your interests. Be the first to know when big stories happen. Yes, keep me updated<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe that the pressure will continue to mount,\u201d said Dessi. \u201cWe expect a major, major march tomorrow, Saturday, here in Rome, with activists and members, citizens coming to Rome from all of Italy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their demands include the release of remaining Italians from the Sumud Flotilla, unconditional support for a Palestinian state and \u201cmore serious sanctions\u201d on Israel over its war on Gaza, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Jazeera\u2019s Veselinovic said that Italy\u2019s right-wing government was unlikely to succumb to pressure. \u201cThat is probably unlikely to happen, considering that Italy is a major ally of Israel in the European Union. However, in the past few months, the government did adopt a slightly harsher tone towards Israeli officials, specifically because of actions like this protest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italian government has criticised the strike, with Meloni suggesting that people were using the protests as an excuse to have a longer weekend break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the protests took place, Italy\u2019s foreign ministry announced that Israel had released four Italian parliamentarians out of the 40 Italians detained from the flotilla. The two members of parliament and two members of the European Parliament were due to arrive back in Rome on Friday, the ministry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worldwide reaction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Protests in solidarity with the humanitarian convoy, which included prominent figures like climate activist Greta Thunberg and a number of politicians, spread across continents<\/a> on Thursday, from Europe to Australia and South America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Barcelona, where the flotilla began its voyage, about 15,000 demonstrators marched, chanting \u201cGaza, you are not alone,\u201d \u201cBoycott Israel,\u201d and \u201cFreedom for Palestine\u201d. Former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau was among those intercepted at sea and now faces potential deportation along with fellow activists, including Nelson Mandela\u2019s grandson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flotilla organisers said on Telegram on Friday that Israeli naval forces had \u201cillegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels \u2013 each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel\u2019s illegal siege on Gaza\u201d. Marinette, the last remaining boat, was intercepted at 10:29am (07:29 GMT) that morning, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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    More than 470 flotilla participants were \u201ctaken into custody by the military police, subjected to rigorous screening, and transferred to the prison administration\u201d, according to Israeli police cited by AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Among those detained from the flotilla were more than 20 journalists, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), including reporters from Al Jazeera, Spain\u2019s El Pais and Italy\u2019s public broadcaster RAI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Israel\u2019s military applauded its naval forces for intercepting the flotilla, claiming the humanitarian mission attempted to breach its \u201cmaritime security blockade\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cDuring Yom Kippur, in an operation that lasted approximately 12 hours, Israeli Navy personnel foiled a large-scale incursion attempt by hundreds of individuals aboard 42 naval vessels that declared their intention to break the lawful maritime security blockade adjacent to the Gaza Strip,\u201d the military statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rights groups, several politicians and the UN\u2019s Francesca Albanese have suggested Israel\u2019s interception of the flotilla\u2019s boats was illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Protests in Israel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In Israel on Friday, protesters blocked a route into Gaza, staging a sit-in demanding that aid seized from the flotilla be allowed to enter the Palestinian territory. Dozens of protesters also tried to stop soldiers from entering the Strip, some carrying banners calling for an end to the genocide and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Reporting from Amman, Al Jazeera\u2019s Hamdah Salhut said, \u201cThese are Israeli peace activists who say that they are not part of any larger organisation, but from branches of different organisations coming from all walks of life in solidarity with the \u2026 flotilla.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Salhut reported that \u201cmore than 40 vessels\u201d seized by the Israeli Navy were now sitting in the port of Ashdod, just north of the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWhat these demonstrators are saying is that this flotilla should have been allowed to go to the Gaza Strip, but that the siege on the Palestinian territory needs to end and there needs to be other ways of ensuring that happens, whether it\u2019s by air, land, or sea,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/10\/3\/pressure-mounts-on-italian-govt-over-gaza-after-strike-paralyses-nation; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Union says more than two million protested on Friday, with a massive turnout expected tomorrow for the Rome protests. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Italy as part of a general strike in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla that was intercepted by Israel this week while trying to bring aid to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23991,24003,23993,24005,24007,23992,24004,23990],"tags":[3517,23749,1737,10003,1510,5392,24101,23910,17576,23750,4935],"class_list":["post-24881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-conflict-security","category-europe","category-geopolitical-reports","category-history-background","category-middle-east","category-political-analysis","category-regional-geopolitics","tag-italian-pm","tag-famine-2","tag-gaza-2","tag-genocide-2","tag-israel-2","tag-israeli-brutalities-2","tag-israelu-war-craze","tag-italy-2","tag-palestine-2","tag-starvation-2","tag-war-crimes-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24936,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24881\/revisions\/24936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}