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

​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
Trump “Peace Plan” A Cynical Cover to Continue Campaign of Palestinian Extermination
01 October 2025
The so-called "peace deal" does not offer peace; it demands surrender.
Hanna Eid
Recognizing the Palestinian 'State': A Colonial Hauntology
01 October 2025
While Gaza burns, a collaborationist class is being handed the keys to a prison and calling it a state, all in service to western imp
Bikrum Gill
Orders of Sovereignty: Internal Power and External Dependency in the Recognition of the State of Palestine
01 October 2025
Western nations complicit in occupation and genocide offer a fig leaf of sovereignty by recognizing a Palestinian state that in reality would s
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
On the Right to Exist: Rosh Hashana Represents a Choice for Jews of Conscience, a New Year for Zionism, or a Commitment To a New Era of Jewish Values
24 September 2025
This Rosh Hashana falls during an ongoing genocide, creating a profound moral crisis for Jewish people.
BettBeat
Capitalism Hijacked the World to Keep Contributing to Genocide—BRICS Proves It
17 September 2025
We are like addicts who scream "no" while stabbing the needle into our arms.
Middle East Eye Staff
New York state sends police chiefs to Israel for 'counterterrorism' training
17 September 2025
This is the second training visit for US officers that has been hosted by an Israeli government agency during Israel's war on Gaza.
Jill Clark-Gollub
Why the SanctionsKill Campaign Supports BDS
10 September 2025
The SanctionsKill campaign exposes how US economic warfare kills civilians across the Global South.
Sarah B.
Gaza to Donbass: How Israel and Ukraine Built a Fascist, Transnational War Machine
10 September 2025
From Bandera to Ben-Gurion, an axis of ethno-supremacy is rising, fueled by U.S. backing. Same guns. Same flags. Same ideology.
Mohamad Elmasry
Israel's attack on Qatar should be a wake-up call for the Arab world
10 September 2025
The strike on Doha shows that Arab regimes' silence and passivity in the face of Israeli violence will only invite further aggression.
Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
Whitewashed, Bleached, and Alabastardized: How White “supremacy’s” Subjective Identification of War Criminals Reveals its Deeper Psychopathology
20 August 2025
The manufactured outrage over Vladimir Putin's presence at the Alaska summit was an attempt to reinforce a global racial order.

More Stories


  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 28, 2025
    28 Mar 2025
    In this week’s segment, we have an update on the Sudan civil war, which may be nearing a conclusion. But first, we discuss to what extent the Trump administration is an outlier in comparison to other…
  • Donald Trump
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Analyzing Trump: Aberration and Continuity
    28 Mar 2025
    Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Wayne State University. She is the author of Black Scare Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United…
  • Sudan refugees leaving Khartum
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Is the Sudan Civil War Nearing an End?
    28 Mar 2025
    Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of Pan-African Newswire, joins us from Detroit with an update on the two-year-long conflict in Sudan as government forces make headway in retaking the capital of Khartoum. Is…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Bernie and AOC Sheepdog for the Democrats
    26 Mar 2025
    Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are trying to re-engage disaffected voters who are rightly disengaged from the Democratic Party. Big rallies can’t hide the fact that the Fighting…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    LECTURE: A Humanist View, Toni Morrison, 1975
    26 Mar 2025
    Toni Morrison on art, archives, knowledge, and the long history of white supremacy in the United States.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us