A general strike in Italy in support of the Gaza aid flotilla disrupted trains and threatened more commuter chaos on Friday, October 3rd, in a second day of demonstrations in Rome.
The strike, called by the USB and CGIL unions, came after demonstrations in several cities worldwide on Thursday—including in Milan and Rome—where around 10,000 people marched from the Colosseum.
Maurizio Landini, head of the CGIL, said that the squares will be packed on Friday:
It shows the humanity and determination of decent people who want to stop genocide and are doing what governments and states have pretended not to see or are even complicit in.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, however, condemned the national strike while at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen Thursday:
I would have expected that at least on an issue they considered so important, the unions would not have called a general strike on Friday, because long weekends and revolution do not go together.
The head of the right–wing government had previously called the Hamas-linked flotilla a “dangerous, irresponsible” initiative, which was led by pro–Palestinian and left–wing climate activists, including Greta Thunberg.
