Hundreds of thousands of Italians and Spaniards marched in Rome, Barcelona, and Madrid on Saturday against Israel's military campaign in Gaza in a massive show of growing anger over the two-year-old war. The protests in Spain had been planned for weeks, while demonstrations in Rome and Lisbon followed widespread anger after the Israeli interception of a humanitarian aid flotilla that had set sail from Barcelona in a bid to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory, the AP reports. Rome's police said 250,000 people turned out, while organizers said 1 million attended, for a second straight day of Italian demonstrations.
Over 40 Spaniards, including a former Barcelona mayor, were among the 450 activists whom Israel removed from the flotilla's boats this week. Barcelona's police said 70,000 people marched Saturday, with organizers saying it was 300,000, while thousands more rallied later in the evening in Madrid and several other Spanish cities as well as Lisbon, Portugal. The demonstrations included:
- Rome: The protest, which followed a route by the Colosseum, was organized by three Palestinian organizations along with local unions and students. At Piazza San Giovanni, protesters chanted and applauded the name of Francesca Albanese, an Italian who is the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories and a vocal critic of Israel. Although the organizers had requested that only Palestinian flags be carried, there were some banners praising the militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas. One read, "October 7, Day of Palestinian Resistance," a reference to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the war. Another large flag read "Death, death to the IDF," a reference to the Israel Defense Forces. A group chanted the same slogan, state broadcaster RAI reported.
- Statehood: Opposition lawmaker Riccardo Magi took Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government to task for its refusal to recognize a Palestinian state, following the example of Spain, France, the UK, Canada, and a few other Western countries. "Meloni cannot continue with this obscene victimhood: these are spontaneous demonstrations against the inaction and complicity of her government. She must acknowledge this and begin working diplomatically for peace," Magi said.
- Barcelona: Spain has seen an upsurge of support for Palestinians in recent weeks while its left-wing government intensifies diplomatic efforts against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government. Protests against the presence of an Israeli-owned cycling team repeatedly disrupted the Spanish Vuelta last month, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called the destruction in Gaza genocide and asked for all Israeli teams be banned from international sporting events. People packed Barcelona's wide Passeig de Gracia, the city's main central boulevard. Many families turned out along with people of all ages, carrying Palestinian flags. Hand-held signs bore messages like "Gaza hurts me," "Stop the Genocide," and "Hands off the flotilla."
- In the crowd: María Jesús Parra, 63, waved a Palestinian flag. She wants the European Union to act against what she described as the horrors she watches on TV news. "How is it possible that we are witnessing a genocide happening live after what we (as Europe) experienced in the 1940s?" Parra said. "Now nobody can say they didn't know what was happening."
- Elsewhere: Smaller rallies took place in Athens and Skopje, North Macedonia. Greek police expect a bigger gathering and march Sunday to coincide with a pro-Israeli one. The two protests are separated by some 2 miles, and police will be on hand to prevent the pro-Palestinian march to the Israeli Embassy, as happened on previous occasions.
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