Above photo: EPA.
Italian labor unions led a general strike that shut down roads, ports, and airports.
As Israel seized the last boat of the Gaza aid flotilla.
Hundreds of thousands flooded Italy’s streets on 3 October as part of a general strike organized to protest Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the kidnapping of hundreds of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
“After what I saw with the flotilla, I thought I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. It’s the first time I go to these kind of demonstrations,” Mario Mascetti told Reuters after attending the protest in Rome.
The CGIL and USB trade unions organized the demonstrations, which took place in more than 100 cities on the same day Israeli forces intercepted the last of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels.
Organizers said the illegal seizure marked the capture of all 42 boats in the flotilla, each carrying humanitarian aid and international volunteers determined to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
The strike caused delays and cancellations in Italy’s rail network as well as limited disruptions at airports. Protestors also blocked major roads in several cities, including Rome, Milan, Bologna, and Trent.
“This is not just any strike. We’re 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,” CGIL leader Maurizio Landini said.
Italy’s far-right Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, criticized the strike, saying on Thursday that organizers only wanted to “have a long weekend.”
Demonstrators also shuttered the port of Livorno. Earlier this week, shouts of “we don’t want you” greeted an Israeli-owned container ship when it arrived in the Tuscan coastal city.
For two days, striking dockworkers refused to unload and reload the ship’s cargo in solidarity with Gaza and the Samud flotilla.
“Israel is carrying out an extermination of people in Gaza – by killing them, by starving them,” said a dockworker, Luca Simoni. “We cannot remain indifferent. We have always been a port of welcome, not one of war. We will continue protesting until this war ends.”
Organizers estimated 300,000 people protested in Rome, as well as 100,000 in Milan, 50,000 in Naples, 25,000 in Venice, and another 150,000 in Sicily. A mass rally is planned for Rome on Saturday as a culmination of the strike.
