Overview

• Grassroots unions including USB and CUB staged a 24-hour walkout across public and private sectors, disrupting trains, local transport and classes nationwide.
• Turnout included about 20,000 at Rome’s Termini station according to police, with organisers reporting roughly 50,000 in Milan and more than 10,000 in Bologna.
• Dockworkers blocked or slowed operations at Genoa, Livorno, Trieste and Venice, citing efforts to stop arms shipments and support the Global Sumud Flotilla.
• Milan saw the most serious clashes at the central station, with tear gas, smashed windows, more than 10 arrests and around 60 injured officers reported by ANSA; water cannon were used in Venice and to clear a highway blockade near Bologna.
• Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence and reaffirmed that Italy will not recognise Palestinian statehood for now despite moves by allies at the UN.