Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate inside the commercial port of Naples during a nationwide strike called by the USB union to condemn the Israeli forces’ interception of the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla aiming to reach Gaza and break Israel’s naval blockade, in Naples, Italy, on October 3, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
More than two million people across Italy rallied in over 100 cities on Friday (October 3, 2025) for a one-day general strike to support the residents of Gaza and a humanitarian aid mission, Italy’s largest union said.Italian unions proclaimed the strike after the Global Sumud Flotilla that was trying to break Israel’s naval blockade to deliver aid to Gaza was intercepted by Israeli naval forces Wednesday night. Protests and demonstrations have sprung up all over Europe and globally since then, but they have been particularly strong in Italy.Italy’s conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had criticized the strike. She anticipated it would cause widespread disruption across the country and said it was politically motivated and targeted her right-wing government.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march along the Milan’s ring road during a protest part of a national general strike called by different unions to protest against the situation in Gaza two days after Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea, in Milan, Italy, on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.
