(Reuters) -The Israel-Premier Tech team have been excluded from the upcoming Giro dell’Emilia over public safety concerns, race organisers said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The decision comes after the recent Vuelta a Espana suffered several disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters, with Israel-Premier Tech the main focus of the protests.<\/p>\n
The one day Giro dell’Emilia race on October 4 finishes in Bologna, raising fears that the finish could be the target of protests.<\/p>\n
Pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police in Milan on Monday, during a nationwide strike in Italy called by trade unions against the mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
“It is with regret that, following recent events and given the characteristics of the final circuit, for the safety of all athletes, technical staff, and spectators, I have had to forgo the participation of the Team this year,” race organiser president Adriano Amici told Reuters.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the world cycling governing body (UCI) said it will continue to welcome Israeli athletes at its competitions despite calls for sporting boycotts.<\/p>\n
“We find it extremely regrettable that threats of violence have disrupted our sport,” a spokesperson for Israel-Premier Tech told Reuters, adding that conversations with race organisers had been ongoing over the last few days.<\/p>\n
“We wish the organisers a successful race.”<\/p>\n
Last week, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry said in a report that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza – an accusation dismissed by Israel – and U.N. experts have called for Israel’s suspension from international football.<\/p>\n
UEFA now appear poised to hold an emergency vote on suspending Israel from European competition next week.<\/p>\n
Israel is fighting a genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, rejecting such accusations, citing its right to self-defence following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and resulted in 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.<\/p>\n
The subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 64,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, while a global hunger monitor says part of the territory is suffering from famine.<\/p>\n
Israel-Premier Tech, who removed their name from riders’ jerseys during the Vuelta a Espana, are currently reviewing its branding for next year with sponsors pressuring for a name change.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Reuters) -The Israel-Premier Tech team have been excluded from the upcoming Giro dell’Emilia over public safety concerns, race…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-174561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}