Overview

• The rally organized by Pd, M5S and Avs drew about 50,000 people to Rome’s streets today to demand an end to Gaza’s mass casualties, featuring speeches by Angelo Bonelli, Giuseppe Conte, Nicola Fratoianni and Elly Schlein alongside testimonies from Rula Jebreal, Gad Lerner and Anna Foa.
• Police set up extensive road closures, metro checks and highway controls to ward off extremist infiltrations and potential blitz actions along the march route.
• The Union of Italian Jewish Communities criticized the demonstration for focusing solely on Palestinian suffering, prompting leaders like Conte and Fratoianni to deny any antisemitic intent and defend their call against a “genocide.”
• Tensions in the broader left wing surfaced when Matteo Renzi and Carlo Calenda held an alternate Milan event yesterday and Palestinian student groups labeled the Rome march untimely and politically opportunistic.
• The Rome protest follows a similar pro-Palestinian rally in Milan on June 6, marking the culmination of a nationwide left-wing mobilization over the Gaza conflict.