About 5,000 people on Saturday
attended a banned pro-Palestinian march in Rome.
With major security measures in place in the Italian capital,
some 1,600 people were checked and 19 of them were taken to
police stations to assess their position for the purpose of a
possible order to leave the Italian capital.
The march took place amid fears that extremists may be trying to
infiltrate the march, which has gone ahead despite the public
order ban.
The march came two days before Monday's anniversary of the
October 7, 2023 unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on
Israel which killed 1,200 and took 250 or so hostages, about 100
of whom are still believed to be alive in Gazan tunnels after
many deaths and some releases.
The Israeli retaliation, Hamas's health ministry says, has
killed nearly 42,000 civilians including many women and
children.
Pro-Palestinian activists took to the Internet to protest
against Rome police efforts to stop them
joining the protest.
"Be careful if you are taking the train", said one message,
posted with a photo of a group of officers at the Tiburtina
Railway Station.
Similar shots and the same warning were posted on pictures of
other stations and at the main transport hubs in the center of
Rome.
"The Rome police headquarters is preventing the buses from
reaching the demonstration", said another message.
Chants of "Free Palestine", "Criminal Israel" and "Now Intifada"
rang out in Piazzale Ostiense where the protesters convened for
the march.
The area was heavily guarded and a helicopter was flying over
the zone.
Law enforcement officers, armored vehicles and water cannons
were deployed at all entrances to the
square where documents were asked of those who entered.
Participants in the march said it had been banned
to guarantee war and not peace and said they were not
celebrating Hamas but commemorating the thousands of civilians
killed in Gaza, calling the Italian state Fascist in allegedly
stopping people attending.
The marchers also protested against Israeli actions against
Hezbollah in Lebanon amid fears of a major Israeli reprisal for
an unprecedented Iranian missile launch in retaliation for the
assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
"Despite the ban we took to the streets because we have a
historical responsibility," said one of the
representatives of the Palestinian Arab Democratic Union into a
megaphone in Piazza Ostiense.
"We ask for an end to the bombings. Italy must take a clear
line.
"There was a mystification of this march. They told us that it
was a celebration of Hamas but we are here to commemorate our
dead, the Palestinian dead.
"The only ones who celebrate here in Italy are the friends of
Israel and the Italian war industry.
"The ban came not to guarantee peace but to guarantee war."
Another young Palestinian
activist said "ee could have been many more if this was not a
police state, a fascist state".
From the square came a chant against the forces of law and
order: "shame".
At the demonstration, in addition to the Palestinians, there
were also demonstrators from small leftwing groups and parties
including 'Osa' (Dare), 'Potere al Popolo' (Power to the People)
and the USB grass-roots trade union.
There were also the flags of the 'knowledge network' and the
Italian Communists.
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