Tight controls in Rome for the pro-Palestine demonstration that started today at 2 pm in the Capital and was banned by the Police Headquarters. We learn that 1,600 people have been checked so far and 19 have been taken to the police headquarters to assess their position for the purpose of a possible expulsion order. Around 6,000 participants shout slogans against Israel and the government under pouring rain.
The aim of the agents is to intercept any violent infiltrators among the groups who, defying the ban, are still trying to reach the Ostiense area to take part in the procession on the eve of October 7 , the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.
The security plan was finalized yesterday afternoon at a technical table at the Police Headquarters, the first chaired by the new police commissioner Roberto Massucci. Among the measures: checks at stations and at motorway toll booths to intercept buses of protesters arriving from other cities and a device with increasingly tight concentric circles around the area of Piazzale Ostiense.
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, stressing that the demonstration is "illegal", assured that it will be "managed with balance by our police forces, in whom I trust blindly".
The halt to the march has meanwhile divided the Palestinian world and united the extreme left and the extreme right who have sided in favor of the mobilization. The Palestinian Arab Democratic Union and the Palestinian Youth have announced that they will be in the square anyway, while the Palestinian Community has agreed on a new date for Saturday, October 12.
In these hours the adhesions to the demonstration continue from various entities, including student groups. On the profile of the group of the historic Virgilio high school in Rome a video was published in which they see a banner with the words 'Israel terrorist state' and an image of Netanyahu with the Star of David set on fire. All in the courtyard of the Institute. Potere al Popolo will also be in the square and ensures a «large procession» in response to a «dangerous repressive mechanism».
(Online Union)