Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Italy Paralyzed as Anti-Genocide Protesters Take the Streets
The Cradle News Desk
24 Sep 2025
🖨️ Print Article
Protest
(Photo credit: Matteo Ciambelli/Reuters)

Walkouts in over 60 cities disrupted trains, ports, and schools to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Originally published in The Cradle.

Workers across Italy launched a nationwide strike on 22 September to oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza, halting public transport, rail services, schools, public offices, and ports in more than 60 cities.

Italian grassroots trade union, Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), called the strike to force Rome to “immediately break off relations with the terrorist state of Israel, which is the concrete way in which Italy can, and must, react to the genocide that is taking place.”

Rail freight was suspended on Sunday night, with ports including Ravenna, Livorno, Trieste, and Genoa joining the actions.

In Genoa, dockworkers blocked a vessel scheduled for Israel, while in Livorno, access to the port was restricted by protesters.

In Rome, several regional trains were canceled and others delayed for more than an hour, while in Milan, the city’s M4 metro line was shut down. 

Students in Bologna occupied university lecture halls under the banner of the Cambiare Rotta group. Demonstrators also marched through Milan in heavy rain to demand a ceasefire and express support for the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla.

USB said protests were taking place in 81 locations across Italy, declaring, “For a free Palestine from the river to the sea, we will shout in every square.”

UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese voiced support for the strikes, writing on X, “In Italy, the general strike has shut down train lines, ports, highways, schools & shops. With a genocide ongoing, there can be NO business as usual. Stay peaceful, everyone. Do not react to any provocation. Freedom for all allows no mistakes.”

Protest organizers said more than 200 lawyers had issued an appeal to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani recently told the Senate that Rome was prepared to consider EU trade sanctions against Israel, including measures targeting Israeli ministers over what he called “unacceptable” policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, on 17 September, threatened retaliation against EU member states if the European Commission moves forward with proposed sanctions on Israel.

Italy
Palestine
General Strike
protest
Genocide
Israel

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

The Cradle News Desk
Israeli soldiers confirm Palestinian civilians murdered 'without restraint' in Gaza 'free for all'
12 November 2025
A new film shows that Israeli troops were encouraged to exterminate Palestinians, including women and children, by their politicians and Jewish
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Use and Abuse of the Genocide Convention
05 November 2025
Genocide crime, as defined by the 
book
Dylan Evans
Book Review: The Sword and the Neck – Reading the al-Aqsa Flood by Yanis Iqbal
05 November 2025
Operation Al Aqsa Flood was immediately cast as unprovoked terrorism.
​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
The United States and Israel: The Tale of Two Rogue Settler-Colonial States United by A Commitment to White Supremacy and Barbaric State Violence
29 October 2025
The genocide in Gaza, the threat to Venezuela, and the targeting of Iran are not isolated crises.
x
International League of Peoples' Struggle , International Peoples' Front , People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty
The Right to Resist is the Right of the People! International Organizations Launch the International People’s Tribunal for Palestine
29 October 2025
When established institutions refuse to respond in the face of genocide, the mandate for justice falls to the people.
Steve Salaita
Palestine and the Making of a New New World
29 October 2025
The liberation of Palestine is, above all, a world-building project.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Israel’s Perpetual War Machine Demonstrates that Environmental Warfare is a Tool, Not a Consequence of Genocide and Settler Colonialism
15 October 2025
Environmental destruction in Gaza is a calculated military strategy.
Erica Caines , Austin Cole , Tunde Osazua
What's a "Peace Deal" in the War against Colonized People ?
15 October 2025
There will be no peace without justice.
Mohammad al-Ayoubi
No Rule Without Resistance: Gaza’s Post-War Future and the Collapse of Foreign Illusions
15 October 2025
As western powers push technocracy over sovereignty, Palestinian resistance movements warn that there can be no reconstruction without liberati
David Kenner
Arab States Deepened Military Ties with Israel While Denouncing Gaza War, Leak Reveals
15 October 2025
Israeli and Arab military officials have come together for meetings and trainings, facilitated by U.S.

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Democrats' Treachery Ends the Shutdown
    12 Nov 2025
    Voter support for the Democratic Party in the government shutdown showdown was irrelevant. The Senate capitulation was a cynical and inevitable endgame for a party devoted to the austerity race to…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Southern Sudan, Joseph U. Garang, 1969
    12 Nov 2025
    “Thus it can be said that British colonialism is mainly responsible for the Southern Sudan problem…”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Pretty Boy Gavin Newsom, the Democrats' Rising Star
    12 Nov 2025
    California’s Governor is often referred to as Pretty Boy Gavin Newsom, and cameras do serve him well. What else do we know about him?
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Tuesday night’s tiny glimpse of what The People really want
    12 Nov 2025
    "Tuesday night’s tiny glimpse of what The People really want" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Tapji Garba
    12 Nov 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed writers about their work. This week’s featured author is Tapji Garba. Garba is a graduate student based in Toronto, focusing on Critical Black studies and political…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us