Hundreds of thousands of people march last Saturday, June 7, through the streets of Rome to protest against Israel over the war against Palestinians in Gaza, in a rally called by opposition parties denouncing the Italian far-right “silence and complicity”. “Stop the massacre, stop complicity!” read a wide banner held by protesters at the start of the march, amid a sea of red, white and green Palestinian flags, peace flags and “Free Palestine” signs.

Journalist Gad Lerner, young Israeli communist Iddo Elam and Elly Schlein, the leader of the main Italian opposition Democratic Party after the huge demonstration in solidarity with the Palestinian people held in Rome, Saturday, June 7, 2025 (Photo: Zo Haderekh)

The peaceful protest attracted a massive crowd estimated at 300,000 people, 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 genocide.

On stage, in addition to the speeches by the leaders of the promoting parties, Elly Schlein, Angelo Bonelli, Giuseppe Conte and Nicola Fratoianni, testimonies by activists and journalists alternated. Among them were Rula Jebreal, journalist Gad Lerner, historian Anna Foa, Abubaker Abed, a Palestinian journalist; Iddo Elam, a young Israeli communist who refused military service in protest against the war and occupation and jailed for several months; Atef Abu Saif, former Palestinian minister of Al-Fatah and Feroze Sidhwa, an American surgeon who has operated in Gaza and testified at the UN.

Schlein, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, calls the turnout “an enormous popular response” in opposition to the war. Five Star Movement and the Greens–Left Alliance were also behind the protest. “It is a huge response of participation to say enough to the massacre of the Palestinians and the crimes of the Netanyahu government. It is another Italy that does not remain silent, as the Meloni government does,” says Schlein. “It is an Italy that wants the recognition of the Palestinian State and this is the Italy we want.”

Elam, a leading member of the Communist Youth in Tel-Aviv attacked the massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli army in Gaza and said, “the Israeli occupation over the Palestinian people must come to an end and the two-states solution needs to be negotiated and implemented. It’s our duty to continue the struggle against occupation and for just peace.”

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32499