Italy are due to play Israel in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in Udine but there have been calls for a boycott.
Pro-Palestinian protesters approached the gates of the Italy football team’s training centre on Friday to demand the cancellation of its upcoming World Cup qualifier against Israel due to the war on Gaza.
The protest was part of a national strike that was reacting to Israeli forces’ interdiction of an aid flotilla.
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Italy is scheduled to host Israel in Udine on October 14. But UEFA is considering suspending Israel over the war. The players were not at the Coverciano training centre in Florence, but the squad will convene there on Monday.
Protesters appeared to behave peacefully on the opposite side of the street from the football complex, holding aloft a banner that read in Italian, “Let’s stop Zionism with the resistance.” A protest leader grabbed a microphone and shouted, “How can you still allow Israel, a Zionist and criminal state, to play football games?”
Dozens of protests have erupted across Italy since Wednesday night, after the Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, detaining its activists.
On Friday, workers and students took to the streets after the country’s largest unions called for a one-day general strike in solidarity with the Palestinians and the flotilla. Hundreds of trains were cancelled or delayed, as were several domestic flights, and many private and public schools closed.
The Italian Football Coaches’ Association (AIAC) pushed in August for Israel to be suspended from international competition for its war on Gaza.
