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The march, organised in Rome by the opposition forces Partito Democratico (Democratic Party), Movimento 5 Stelle (M5s) and Alleanza Verdi Sinistra Italiana (Avs), started from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and finished before the basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano.
Tens of thousands of people, according to the organisers, marched waving Palestine, peace and party flags and anti-war placards. But a number of Israel and peace flags with the Star of David in the centre could also be seen, symbolising the demonstrators’ support for a two-state solution.
The banner reading “Gaza stop the massacre. Enough complicity” opened the procession, behind a stream of people arriving from all over Italy. According to the local authorities, at least ten thousand people lined the streets of Rome, thousands more were in the square where the procession ended.
Leading the demonstration were the leaders of the three parties, Giuseppe Conte for the M5s, Elly Schlein for the PD and for Avs, Angelo Bonelli and Nicola Fratoianni. As soon as the rally started, the demonstrators sang the partisan fight song ‘Bella ciao’ together with the politicians. Further behind rose the choruses ‘Free Palestine’, ‘We are all Palestinians’, ‘Free free Palestine’.
Placards and posters against Meloni and Netanyahu
Several demonstrators waved placards against Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. One demonstrator carried a photo of the two leaders, juxtaposing it with a portrait of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
Some demonstrators also carried a white cloth on with small dolls wrapped in white cloths covered in blood, symbolising the children victims of the Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters, PD secretary Schlein said: “It is a huge response of participation to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians and the crimes of the Netanyahu government. It is another Italy that does not remain silent, as the Meloni government does. It is an Italy that wants the recognition of the Palestinian state and this is the Italy we want”.
“This is the square of humanity against the systematic extermination that has been going on for twenty months, starting with the Italian government that is pretending not to see and is still babbling,’ said Conte of the M5s.
This was not the only demonstration to end the war in Gaza. Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva and Carlo Calenda’s Azione parties organised the meeting ‘Two peoples, two states, one destiny’ at the Parenti theatre in Milan on Friday.
The second demonstration arose after a disagreement between the two centrist parties and the organisers of the procession in Rome, because Italia Viva and Azione had requested a reference to anti-Semitism in the manifesto. This request was refused by Avs, M5s and Pd, because they considered the condemnation of the 7 October 2023 massacre carried out by Hamas in Israel to be already clear.
In recent days, deputy minister Matteo Salvini criticised the opposition for organising the event in Rome on the eve of the referendum on work and citizenship. “I hope that no one will use the deaths in Gaza to push people to go and vote”, Salvini said.
