Several injured in Italy as police confront pro-Palestine protesters
Around 10 people were injured during a pro-Palestine demonstration in Italy after police tried to stop protesters with water cannon and tear gas.
Protesters showing solidarity with the people of Palestine, amid the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, took to the streets and held demonstrations across the Piedmont region in northern Italy on Saturday.
Gathering from different parts of the region, protesters were moving towards the city of Turin when the police halted their entry with water cannons and tear gas.
“Please let us pass; we ask your humanity,” protesters who wanted to reach the city chanted before the clashes began.
After the police were not swayed to allow them entry, the protesters threw rocks, smoke bombs, and firecrackers at the officers.
As a result of the clashes, around 8 protesters and 2 police officers sustained minor injuries and were taken to the hospital.
Pro-Palestine protests, which began on Friday in Rome, Milan, Naples, and Bologna, spread on Saturday to Florence, Pisa, Ancona, Trieste, Bari, and Alessandria as well.
The Israeli cycling team is barred from Italian tournament amid “public safety concerns” arising from pro-Palestinian protesters against the genocide in Gaza.
The number of demonstrations in support of Gaza and the Palestinian people has been growing across Italian ports, universities, schools, and public squares ahead of the national protest scheduled for October 4 in Rome.
On September 22, a 24-hour general strike called by several grassroots unions was held across Italy to protest the country’s complicity in the Gaza genocide.
The strike, marked by the slogan “let’s block everything,” aimed at implementing a nationwide blockade of ports, roads, and workplaces to stop arms and supplies shipments to Israeli-occupied territories.
Hundreds of thousands of Italian citizens took part in the strike and condemned the pro-Israeli policies of the Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.
The nationwide strike also turned violent when police confronted protesters with water cannons and tear gas.
As a result of these protests, the organizers of the upcoming Giro dell’Emilia cycling contest have prohibited the participation of any Israeli team, fearing that, similar to Spain, pro-Palestine protesters could disrupt the event.
Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, it has killed nearly 66,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 167,000, most of them women and children.
