Workers across Italy downed their tools on Monday to take part in a strike called by grass-roots trade unions to protest at the situation in Gaza while thousands of people marched in demonstrations in several cities including Milan where some 60 police were injured in violent clashes. 
    The general strike, which started at midnight and runs until 23:00 on Monday, is affecting many sectors, especially local public transport and railways, schools, public services and ports.
    The USB union called for “the immediate break-off of relations with the terrorist state of Israel, which is the concrete way in which Italy can, and must, react to the genocide that is taking place”.
    There were queues at the ports of Genoa and Livorno as protestors restricted access to them.
    Police used water cannon against demonstrators at the port of Marghera near Venice.
    Organizers of the Rome event said 100,000 people were at the demo near the central Termini train station, although an initial police estimate put the figure at around 20,000.
    Cheers went up when announcements of train cancellations were made Despite heavy rain, thousands were taking part in the march in Milan to call for a ceasefire and show support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is trying to break the Israeli blockade to get aid to Gaza via sea.
    When the Milan march got close to the US consulate, some protesters started shouting “killers” and a US flag was burned.
    Demonstrators wearing keffiahs and carrying Palestinian flags later clashed with police at Milan’s central railway station, with protesters throwing flares and bottles and officers responding with baton charges.
    Protesters also used fire hydrants against the police and put up placards bearing the acronym ACAB (All Cops Are Bastards) at the enyrances to the metro station.
    Protesters in Pisa blocked the SGC Florence-Pisa-Livorno highway, and the A14 trans-Apennine highway was blocked outside Bologna, with protesters throwing flares and waving Palestinian flags to stop traffic.
    Bottles, stones are rocks were thrown at a plant belonging to Italian defence giant Leonardo at Campi Bisenzio, near Florence.
    In Rome several regional train services were cancelled because of the strike, while others were delayed by up to 80 minutes.
    In Milan the M4 metro line was closed and trains were delayed by as much as two hours.
    In Bologna, again, the ‘Cambiare Rotta’ (Change Course) group said students have halted lessons at the city’s university, blocking entry to lecture halls.
   

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