Pro-Palestine protesters target Italy training for Israel World Cup tie

Pro-Palestinian protesters reportedly demanded on Friday that Israel’s upcoming World Cup qualifier be postponed because of the Gaza war. They marched past the training facilities of the Italian football team.

The protest was a part of a nationwide strike that was protesting Israeli forces’ blocking of an aid flotilla.

On October 14, Italy will host Israel in Udine. However, UEFA might consider suspending Israel because of the conflict. The squad will meet at the Florence Coverciano training facility on Monday, but the players were not there.

On the opposite side of the street from the football complex, protesters waved placards that read, “Let’s stop Zionism with the resistance” in Italian. How can you still permit Israel, a Zionist and criminal state, to play football games, yelled a protest leader who grabbed a microphone?

Since Wednesday night when the Israeli navy intercepted and detained the Global Sumud Flotilla, dozens of protests have erupted all over Italy.

After the largest unions in the country demanded a one-day general strike in solidarity with the Palestinians and the flotilla, workers and students took to the streets on Friday. Numerous private and public schools were closed, as were numerous domestic flights, and hundreds of trains were canceled or delayed.