Italy: Violent clashes in Milan between pro-palestine demonstrators and police
The militants clashed with authorities and used sticks, stones, chairs, barriers and garbage cans to destroy furniture at the city's central station.
Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with police at Milan Central station.
Milan has been the scene of violent protests during a nationwide day of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Italy.
On Monday afternoon, dozens of people stormed the Galleria delle Carrozzi, the main entrance to the city's train station. The protesters destroyed doors, kiosks and furniture using sticks, stones, chairs, barriers and garbage cans.
The riot police had to intervene with batons and tear gas, preventing pro-Palestinian militants from entering the station.
Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence
The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, posted a video on X showing dozens of protesters violently confronting police in central Milan, and condemned the protests for their violent nature.
"The images coming from Milan are shameful: self-styled 'pro Palestine', self-styled 'antifa' and self-styled 'pacifists' devastating the station and provoking clashes with the forces of law and order," Meloni wrote.
"Violence and destruction that have nothing to do with solidarity and that will not change one of the lives of the people of Gaza, but which will have real consequences for the Italian citizens, who will end up suffering and paying for the damage caused by these vandals," she added.
The prime minister expressed solidarity with the riot police officers who clashed with protesters after they used metal fences and other objects to break windows and glass doors.
Pro-Palestinian protests in Italy
The mobilization coincides with the day several countries plan to recognize the State of Palestine at the UN, as the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada did on Sunday. But Italy, led by a conservative government headed by Giorgia Meloni, for the moment does not contemplate it.
In Rome, some 20,000 people gathered in front of Termini station, according to local police data, with Palestinian flags and shouting "Free Palestine!"
LATEST
