Meloni faces domestic troubles as Palestine protests turn violent

 ROME - Massive demos on Monday show that many Italians despise Meloni’s Trumpian foreign policy and want Italy to follow Britain and France in recognizing Palestine, political experts say.

 Although the government tried to dismiss protests as work of a violent minority, political experts say Meloni concerned she may suffer further in opinion polls as she was heading to New York for UN meeting.

 Despite repeatedly voicing concerns reagarding Israel’s offence in Gaza, Meloni and her right-wing government have maintained a cautious approach to the conflict, something that much of the public have grown tired of. In some parts of the nationt these feelings boiled over on Monday, with protests getting out of hand. 

 The protests became one of Europe’s largest nationwide protests supporting Palestine, and came about after the Italian government, and president Meloni, distanced themselves from the Europe-wide move to recognise Palestine statehood. Nations such as the UK, France, Portugal and many others did so over the weekend or were preparing to do so at the UN general assembly on Monday.

 Meloni however announced that it may be ‘counterproductive’ to recognise a state before it becomes offically established, which sparked outrage amognst the Italian public, thus culminating in the strikes and protests of Monday.

 Pro-Palestine protestors came face to face with police across the nation, but in particular in Milan, where individuals thre objects and parts of scaffolding at member of the police forces, and climbed into the ground floor of Milan’s central station through the escalators of the deactivated metro, Il Fatto Quotidiano reports.

 The manifestations in support of Palestine have also resulted in blocking roads, motorways and ports, along with disrupting the trains that were running and not already brought to a standstill by the general strike that also gripped the nation on Monday.

 Over 20,000 people gathered outside the Termini station in Rome to show their support for Palestine, waving flags ant chanting. However, it was further north where tensions boiled over as crowds of protestors in Milan, estimated to be at 50,000, clashed with police, attempting to smash into the central station using batons, and throwing stones and smoke bombs at the police controlling the protests, who in turn responded with pepper spray and water cannons.

 In Milan, over 10 arrests have already been made following Monday’s chaos, and the violence that erupted left around 60 police offices with injuries. The violent protests have been condemned already by Meloni, who claims that the violence used has nothing to do with expressing support for those in Gaza.

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