Italy strike and protests over Gaza disrupt trains and ports

Tens of thousands of workers, students and activists across Italy launched a 24-hour national strike and mass demonstrations on Monday in a show of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, halting trains, limiting urban transport and blockading key ports as organisers demanded stronger Italian and European action to end the war. Grassroots unions including the USB and the Autonomous Dockworkers Collective CALP, together with pro-Palestine networks, called the day of action to denounce what they described as government and EU complicity in Israel's offensive.

The strike produced widespread disruption. National train services reported long delays and cancellations, city metros and buses ran limited schedules in Rome and Milan, and sit-ins and rallies slowed or partially blocked freight at the ports of Genoa and Livorno. About 20,000 people gathered outside Rome's Termini station, according to local police, many of them students chanting "Free Palestine" and carrying Palestinian flags. Organisers said 50,000 attended protests in Milan, a figure higher than police estimates, and tens of thousands marched in other cities including Bologna, Turin, Florence, Naples and Palermo.