Pro-Pal strike and riots divide the Chamber: clash between majority and opposition

The Chamber of Deputies was the scene of heated political confrontation today, with growing tensions between the majority and the opposition over the strike and pro-Pal riots. The protests, which involved several cities, sparked mutual accusations between the parties, marking a new chapter in the parliamentary conflict .

Pro-Pal strikes and riots in Italian cities

Yesterday, Italy experienced a day of intense mobilization during the general strike called by grassroots unions in support of Palestine. Marches, sit-ins, and roadblocks swept through the streets of numerous cities, creating transportation disruptions and tensions with law enforcement.

In Rome, over twenty thousand people gathered in Piazza dei Cinquecento in front of Termini station, while in Turin, protesters occupied the train tracks, suspending train service. In Milan , the protests saw violent incidents, with objects being thrown, barricades being set up, and windows being smashed in the central station, prompting police intervention with water cannons and tear gas.

Similar incidents occurred in Bologna , where the ring road was temporarily occupied, and in Trieste , where some protesters threw stones at police. Brescia also saw clashes along the march route in the evening, with police officers injured and protesters arrested. In total, dozens of police officers suffered injuries or bruises, some of which were taken to the hospital, while hundreds of protesters were detained during clearing operations.

The afternoon session of the Chamber of Deputies, which opened with a tribute to MP Kirk, was marked by a heated debate between the majority and opposition over the events surrounding the pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The leader of the Brothers of Italy party, Galeazzo Bignami, demanded that Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi report on public order during the demonstrations, expressing solidarity with the police and accusing those who had exploited the protests to attack institutions.

Opposition MPs responded by emphasizing the civic value of the demonstrations , accusing the majority of downplaying the gravity of the situation in Gaza and attempting to delegitimize the demonstrations. Riccardo Ricciardi of the Five Star Movement defended the demonstrations, calling them an "act of collective conscience" and denouncing the situation in Gaza as a genocide in which some members of the majority were complicit. Chiara Braga, leader of the Democratic Party, described it as a "moment of collective conscience" and criticized Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's flight from the chamber, while Marco Grimaldi of the AVS party characterized the majority's attacks as a strategy to conceal political difficulties.

Other interventions recalled how all political parties had already condemned the episodes of violence, while underscoring the importance of the demonstration as an exercise in democracy and collective conscience. Editorial sources, such as L' Osservatore Romano , also highlighted how the visibility of the violent episodes alone does not do justice to the entire mobilization .