- Hundreds of thousands of people protested the war in Gaza in Rome.
- The protesters carried Palestinian flags, peace flags, and "Free Palestine" signs.
- The estimated 300,000 people attended the peaceful protest.
Protestors held a wide banner at the start of the march that read, “Stop the massacre, and stop complicity!” They carried a sea of red, white, and green Palestinian flags, peace flags, and “Free Palestine” signs.
Organizers estimated that 300,000 people attended the peaceful protest, and police later confirmed those estimates were “largely accurate,” according to the Italian news agency AGI.
The march moved from Rome’s central Piazza Vittorio to San Giovanni, where speakers took the stage to urge an end to the violence and denounce what some called the silence of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Italian government.
Elly Schlein, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, called the turnout “an enormous popular response” opposing the war. Italy’s Five Star Movement and the Greens–Left Alliance also backed the protest.
Schlein told journalists that the demonstration aimed to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians, to say enough to the crimes of Netanyahu’s far-right government, and to show the world “another Italy.”
“An Italy that does not keep silent as the Meloni government does, an Italy that instead wants peace, wants an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, humanitarian aid, and wants recognition of the state of Palestine,” she said.
The leader of the Five Star Movement, former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, told the crowd that he came “to not be a partner to genocide” and rejected accusations that protestors were anti-Semitic.
International critics have increasingly condemned Israel over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that famine threatens the entire population.
In Italy, the opposition has pushed Meloni to condemn Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza, but she has tempered her criticism.
Last month, Meloni called the humanitarian situation “increasingly dramatic and unjustifiable” and said she had “often held difficult conversations” with Netanyahu, while also noting that “Israel did not start the hostilities.”
Gabriella Branca, a lawyer from Genoa, traveled from across Italy to participate in the demonstration in the capital along with many other protesters.
“It’s unbearable to witness the massacre of 60,000 people, including 20,000 children. We have to say enough,” the 67-year-old told the news.
“In other countries, as you know, demonstrations have drawn millions of people, so I hope that today in Rome we can send a signal to all of Italy, so that everyone takes to the streets to say enough and above all, to try to find peace,” she said.
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