Pro-Pal rally in Rome: 'We are one million'. Clashes with police: 11 arrested and 262 identified

Approximately two hundred people were identified in the clashes in Rome this evening during the procession for Palestine. The two groups broke away from the main procession. A first group of about one hundred people was blocked in Santa Maria Maggiore, the other in the nearby Via Lanza.

Clashes in Rome during the procession for Palestine. It happened when a group of about a hundred demonstrators broke away from the procession and deviated in the direction of Santa Maria Maggiore. To block them, the police activated water cannons. There were also charges by the police.

A smoke bomb was thrown at an armoured car of the Guardia di Finanza in Via dei Normanni, shortly after the pro-Palestine procession had passed. The throwing occurred during the passage of a group of several hooded people. The area where the incident took place is currently being flown over by a police helicopter.

While some demonstrators begin to leave Piazza San Giovanni, the tail end of the procession has yet to leave Viale Aventino. There were many symbols dedicated to the Global Sumud Flotilla among families, associations, students and trade unions. From boats with the flag of Palestine drawn on them to signs saying 'we are the ground crew'. One large banner reads 'the shoreline blows on the sails of the Flotilla - Free Palestine'. A sign dedicated to the feast day of the saint of Assisi also stands out in the crowd: 'today Saint Francis would be here'. A man shows a sign with bloody handprints and above it the words: 'To remain silent in front of a genocide is to accept that we could be the next victims'. Among the many Palestinian flags at the pro-Gaza parade were also some from Hamas and Hezbollah.

Several demonstrators are leaving at a snail's pace from Piazza San Giovanni, where the pro-Palestine demonstration that started this afternoon at 2.30 p.m. from Piazza della Piramide is still in progress. Among them hundreds of families with children by the hand or in pushchairs took part in the procession. For the time being, there have been no problems with public order. Everything is running smoothly.

At the pro-Pal demonstration in Rome several choruses against Israel and the government. Then the banner: '7 October Palestinian Resistance Day'. This can be read on a banner immediately behind the head of the procession

Associations, trade unions, families, students, collectives, hundreds of thousands of them are marching through the streets of Rome, in the procession for Palestine, amidst red and green smoke that is lit from time to time by the participants. Hundreds of symbols recalling the Flotilla, like a small cardboard boat carried by some demonstrators with the inscription: 'however much you believe yourselves acquitted, you are still involved'. It is 'the ground crew', as they recall on placards and banners. On one sheet the inscription: 'the shoreline blows on the sails of the Flotilla'. And on the day dedicated to the Saint of Assisi, a man wears a sign reading: 'today Saint Francis would be here'. And among the crowd there are also those calling for 'free hostages, free Palestine', along with 'Down with Netanyahu, Down with Hamas'.

Hamas and Hezbollah flags are also among the thousands of Palestine flags carried in the procession in Rome by the demonstrators. 'Death death to the Idf' is written on a large one that is waved. 'Death to the Idf, death to Zionism' is then read on a banner. The phrase addressed to the Israeli army is also chanted in chorus by some groups.

'Rome is blocked. All of it. We are one million people for Palestine. We have blocked everything. Italy knows where it stands'. This was announced by the organisers of the national procession for Palestine in the capital, which arrived in Piazza San Giovanni. "We are representing the whole of Italy. We are the Palestinian resistance'. 'Meloni government resignation', the chorus started after the announcement.

"We are blocking everything. The queue is still at Piramide, we are over 600,000 people". This was said by Maya Issa, the president of the Palestinian student movement from the opening truck of the national procession in Rome for Gaza, as the head of the procession was arriving at Via Merulana.

Pro-Pal parade in Rome, tens of thousands in the square

"Stop complicity with Israel against occupation and genocide, with the Palestinian resistance". And again: 'Stop genocide, stop agreements with Israel, freedom for Anan, Ali and Mansour - Free Palestine' with these large banners at the top, the procession in Rome in support of the Flotilla and Gaza started. From the megaphone the organisers' request not to display party or trade union flags but only the flag of Palestine. Already tens of thousands of people have invaded Piazza di Porta San Paolo and the surrounding streets. The procession has just started and will arrive at Porta San Giovanni.

"In Rome they defaced the statue dedicated to St John Paul II by writing 'fascist shit' and drawing a hammer and sickle. They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they outrage the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. An unworthy act committed by people obnubilated by ideology, who show total ignorance for history and its protagonists'. This was stated in a note by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, commenting on what happened during the ProPal demonstration in Rome.

"Freedom freedom, for Gaza we are here", shouts the square at the pro-Pal procession in Rome. "We are here to demand the release of our comrades from the Global Sumud Flotilla: 40 detained by the Israeli army, we are here to demand their release," says an activist from the megaphone above the van from where Usb flags wave.

Photos of Meloni, Tajani and Salvini 'accomplices of genocide' appear behind the banner of Fgc, Communist Youth Front, at the procession in Rome. The demonstrators show the banner: 'We expel the government accomplice to genocide' with a large Palestinian flag. Behind them the Usb blockade.

During controls along the main access roads to Rome in anticipation of the demonstration in support of Palestine, police intercepted a car and two buses containing material considered dangerous. Inside the vehicles were found gas masks, disposable suits - usually used to avoid identification by the authorities - as well as metal and wooden sticks. All the equipment was confiscated. There were about 60 people on board the vehicles, who were taken to police offices for identification and further verification. Prevention measures will be applied against them, including the issuing of a mandatory travel warrant from the province of Rome and a ban on returning for a certain period.

The statue of Pope John Paul II in Rome's Piazza dei Cinquecento, where the presidium in support of the Palestinian cause set up on 26 September last ended, was defaced. Carabinieri from the Rome Macao Station found the words 'fascist shithead' and the 'hammer and sickle' symbol on the statue. The same Carabinieri activated procedures to remove the writing and restore the state of the places.

A long Palestinian flag was unfurled at Porta San Paolo, in Rome, between the truck and the cordon at the head of the procession for Gaza that from 2.30 p.m. will go through the streets of the city, from Piazzale Ostiense to San Giovanni. Thousands, many armed with keffiyehs, Palestinian and peace flags, placards and banners, have already reached the square for the national demonstration whose slogan is 'Stop the genocide, stop Zionism with resistance'. Also arriving are high school and university students from the capital. 'Stop genocide', 'free Palestine', chanted the different groups in the square, some accompanied by percussion. "Palestinian children are afraid of the Idf, the Idf is afraid of biscuits," reads one of the many signs in the square. While on another: 'in Gaza no long weekend, lunch with grandparents, pastries'.

After the night's incidents in the centre of Turin, at the end of the procession for Gaza, 'a decisive and choral institutional response is needed, at all levels, against those who, as has already happened in the past, have been guilty of unacceptable behaviour to the detriment of the Police Forces and the city, speculating with violent ends on any protest movement'. This is what emerged from the Provincial Committee for Public Order and Safety convened by Turin Prefect Donato Cafagna. The meeting was also attended by the mayor Stefano Lorusso and the representative of the public prosecutor's office.

'Stop the genocide, stop Zionism with resistance'. With these watchwords, Rome is preparing for a new day of mobilisation for Gaza and Palestine. Thousands of people are expected at today's national procession that will cross the city, in a climate already marked by yesterday's demonstrations and general strike and those that have involved much of Italy in recent days. The main rally is at 2.30 p.m. at Porta San Paolo, but already since 11.30 a.m. the students and university and high school collectives of Sapienza anti-war, after yesterday's occupation of the Faculty of Law, are gathering in piazzale Aldo Moro in pre-concentration. From there they will leave in a procession towards Ostiense, where they will join the other demonstrators. While some activists for the Global Sumud Flotilla are planning to join the pro-Pal with a caravan of mopeds from San Lorenzo. Departing from Piramide, the procession will cross the capital: all along Viale Aventino, Piazza di Porta Capena, Via di San Gregorio, Colosseum, Via Labicana and Via Merulana, until it reaches Piazza San Giovanni, the political heart of the demonstration. Delegations of the Palestinian community, cultural associations, grassroots unions and student groups from all over Italy are expected. Already in the past few hours, the authorities have prepared an impressive security plan, with parking bans, traffic closures along the affected streets, and police garrisons. In the morning, a technical round table will be held at the police headquarters for the final details. Bus lines could be diverted, while metro stops close to the route, such as Piramide and Colosseo, will remain open but could be closed temporarily, as has happened in previous days.