General strikes and port disruption add to pressure on Meloni over Gaza

Thousands of dock workers in Italy took to the streets yesterday after the country's biggest trade union called the second general strike in less than two weeks, closing schools, stalling traffic and causing disruption on public transport and in healthcare.

- Angela Giuffrida

From Genoa, Trieste and Ravenna in the north, to Salerno and Taranto in the south, in recent weeks port workers across Italy have succeeded in obstructing ships believed to have been carrying weapons for Israel, as opposition to the country's war in Gaza intensifies.

There were also spontaneous protests on Wednesday night after Israeli forces intercepted the Global Sumud flotilla attempting to take aid to Gaza and arrested hundreds of activists, including the prominent campaigner Greta Thunberg.

For two days this week, dockers in Livorno refused to unload and reload an Israeli-owned container ship. The protest was a triumph and the ship, bound for the US and Canada, left - the first time an Israeli ship transporting general merchandise had been blocked.

"Israel is carrying out an extermination of people in Gaza - by killing them, by starving them," said a dockworker, Luca Simoni. "We cannot remain indifferent. We have always been a port of welcome, not one of war. We will continue protesting until this war ends."