ROME, Italy — Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday to protest Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, in a rally called by opposition parties denouncing the government’s alleged “complicity” in the conflict.
“Stop the massacre, stop complicity!” read a wide banner held by protestors at the start of the march, amid a sea of red, white and green Palestinian flags, peace flags and “Free Palestine” signs.
The peaceful protest attracted a massive crowd estimated by organizers at 300,000 people. Police later said those estimates were “largely confirmed,” according to Italian news agency AGI.
It made its way from Rome’s central Piazza Vittorio to San Giovanni, where speakers took to a stage to urge an end to the violence and denounce what some called the silence of the far-right Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, called the turnout “an enormous popular response” in opposition to the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Italy’s Five Star Movement and the Greens–Left Alliance were also behind the protest.
The demonstration was “to say enough to the massacre of Palestinians, to say enough to the crimes of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s far-right government” and to show the world “another Italy,” Schlein told journalists.
“An Italy that does not keep silent as the Meloni government does, an Italy that instead wants peace, wants an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, humanitarian aid, and wants recognition of the state of Palestine,” she said.
The leader of the Five Star Movement, former prime minister Giuseppe Conte, told the crowd he was there “to not be a partner to genocide” and rejected any accusation of antisemitism on the part of protestors.
Israel vehemently rejects allegations that its ongoing offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide.
Yet it has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.
In Italy, Meloni has been pushed by the opposition to condemn the actions of Netanyahu in Gaza, but her criticism has been tempered.
Last month, Meloni called the humanitarian situation “increasingly dramatic and unjustifiable” and said she had had “often difficult conversations” with Netanyahu, while at the same time noting that “it was not Israel that started the hostilities.”
Many protesters came from across Italy to participate in the demonstration in the capital, including Gabriella Branca, a lawyer from Genoa.
“It’s unbearable to witness the massacre of 60,000 people, including 20,000 children. We have to say enough,” the 67-year-old told AFP, citing unverified figures, higher, even, than those provided by the Hamas-run health authorities in the Strip.
According to the unverified figures provided by the Hamas-run health ministry, over 54,000 people have been killed in the enclave since October 7. These figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
“In other countries, as you know, demonstrations have drawn millions of people, so I hope that today in Rome we can send a signal to all of Italy, so that everyone takes to the streets to say enough and above all, to try to find peace,” said Branca.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.