Cities across Italy saw anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian protests, strikes and blockades on Monday, responding to calls from unions to “denounce the genocide in Gaza” and for diplomatic and economic sanctions against the Jewish state.

The mobilization coincided with more anticipated announcements by multiple countries that they recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, following recognition by the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Portugal on Sunday.

But Italy has taken a more cautious stance and will not recognize a Palestinian state for now.

Striking dockworkers blocked access roads to the port of Genoa in northern Italy while transportation services also faced disruption, and a number of schools across Italy were closed following the strikes.

In Genoa, some protesters waved the Palestinian flag during early morning gatherings around the port. Further down the coast in the Tuscan city of Livorno, an entrance to the port was blocked by protesting workers.

Italian dockworkers say they are seeking to prevent Italy from being used as a staging post for the transfer of arms and other supplies to Israel, which is waging a war on Hamas in Gaza.

“The Palestinian people continue to give us yet another lesson in dignity and resistance,” said Ricky, a protester in Genoa from a group called the Autonomous Port Workers’ Collective.

“We learn from them and try to do our part,” he added.

Regional train services to Rome faced delays and cancellations because of the strikes, but the Metro underground railway ran as normal. Most of the Metro lines in Milan, Italy’s financial capital, were also operating.

Airlines were not affected.

Meanwhile, hundreds of high school students gathered outside Termini train station, waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Free Palestine!”

Michelangelo, 17, told AFP he was there to support “a population that is being exterminated.”

Francesca Tecchia, 18, who was protesting “for the first time,” said it was because “what is happening [in Gaza] is too important.”

“Italy must come to a standstill today,” said Federica Casino, a 52-year-old worker protesting with the students for Gaza’s “dead children and destroyed hospitals.”

“Italy talks but does nothing,” she said.

There were also protests in northern cities of Milan and Turin, the central city of Florence, and the southern cities of Naples, Bari and Palermo.

The right-wing Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a traditional supporter of Israel within Europe, but unease has grown inside the governing coalition in recent months over the military campaign in Gaza.

Transportation Minister Matteo Salvini played down the impact of the protests that he said were organized by a far-left union group.

The war in Gaza was launched by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught into Israel in which terrorists murdered some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.

Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 469. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.