Italian dockworkers and the Union of Base Trade Unions (USB) vowed that they would respond with strikes and class struggle in the event of an attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and they delivered. On October 3, Italy exploded in a day of “wildcat” strike actions across many sectors.
Despite intimidation from the authorities, who declared the strike illegal and deployed heavy repressive operations, the USB and the dockworkers managed to get Italian workers across sectors to stop and take to the streets, forcing the bureaucracy of the main labor union (CGIL) to call for a strike and demonstrations. Following the important day of struggle on September 22, over two million workers demonstrated and walked off the streets on Friday, especially in the metalworking, logistics, and education sectors.
This demonstration of working-class strength was amplified by the student movement, which took to the streets en masse alongside the workers. Students had already been carrying out direct actions in solidarity with Palestine, as they did on October 1 with the occupation of departments in Rome, Turin, Naples, Milan, and other cities. This militant youth has already succeeded in getting some universities, such as those in Turin and Pisa, to suspend their relations with institutions of the genocidal state of Israel.
This Friday’s general strike united all sectors. Ports, train stations, and airports halted their activities completely or partially. Even highway and taxi workers, among other sectors, joined the strike. The national metalworkers’ union (FIOM) reported strong participation among workers in that sector, with strike rates exceeding 80 percent in some companies. Overall, participation is estimated at over 60 percent nationwide.
This historic general strike was preceded by walkouts in various sectors, including aeronautical and dock workers, who carried out significant actions. In the transportation sector, railway workers’ called a strike for 24 hours, from 9:00 p.m. on October 2 to 9:00 p.m. on October 3. Long-distance trains were not affected, but buses, trams, and subways across the country were cancelled or delayed.
The main mobilization of the day, which drew more than 300,000 people into the streets, took place in Rome. This included blocking the A24 highway, paralyzing all traffic on this main road connecting the capital to the eastern regions as far as the Adriatic Sea. The country’s main train station, Termini, was not occupied by protesters as on September 22, but cancellations and delays of more than two hours were reported, while Milan’s main station experienced delays of more than five hours on some lines.
In Genoa, access to the port was closed from early morning, while the city government closed sections of the highway that cross the city, and protesters occupied the Sampierdarena and Principe train stations. The commercial port of Salerno was also forced to close, with protesters occupying the highway to paralyze traffic; workers shut down the port of Ancona in the afternoon.
In Vicenza, a demonstration blocked an A31 motorway junction, while in Perugia, some 5,000 protesters occupied the sidewalks. Despite the large police presence, demonstrators also blocked the motorway junction with Pescara, where drivers showed their support by honking their horns and applauding the demonstrators.
In Milan, part of the 100,000-person demonstration — with the notable exception of the CGIL contingent — occupied the road; protesters staged road blockades in Bologna as well. Ryanair was forced to divert 26 flights to Forlì airport to avoid repercussions from the strike. In this same city, even prisoners employed by the “Fare Impresa” company at Dozza prison went on strike, renouncing not only their wages but also their freedom, because for them a day’s work allows them time to get outdoors.
In Naples, 80,000 people marched toward the port, breaking through the police cordon and marching with their hands raised, occupying strategic infrastructure. In Livorno, commercial traffic had been completely blocked at the entrance and exit to the port since morning, while blockades at the main intersection on the opposite highway also prevented the passage of vehicles transporting passengers to the ferries.
In Trieste, a procession of 500 protesters, whose numbers grew throughout the day, blocked the port during the morning, closing the main access route. In Padua, thousands of people gathered at the “Interporto” (a freight transport hub) in an attempt to blockade the facility that houses numerous companies complicit in the genocide in Gaza due to their ties to Israel. Police responded with water cannons and tear gas. In Pisa, protesters blocked Galileo Galilei Airport, where they held a peaceful sit-in.
Meanwhile, the four-lane Florence-Pisa-Livorno highway was blocked by protesters in both directions, paralyzing regional traffic in Tuscany, while the pro-Palestine organization Giovani Palestinesi announced the blockade of the Pioltello logistics site on the outskirts of Milan, “one of the main centers of the war industry in northern Italy,” where companies such as Logtainer — a subsidiary of the container shipping giant Maersk — operate.
In the education sector, the strike was massive, and most high schools and universities were closed. Students staged occupations on university campuses across Italy, including the Palazzo Nuovo in Turin, the Sapienza in Rome, the University of Bologna, the Normale in Pisa, the Statale in Milan. Numerous high schools across the country were occupied as well. Student participation was remarked on by the country’s leading newspapers: Generation Z showed itself as a major force in the streets.
In Turin, organizers report 70,000 people demonstrating, with several actions in front of Amazon headquarters, the courthouse, and the “Officine Grandi Riparazioni” (OGR), the facility that Jeff Bezos and Ursula von der Leyen are visiting during “Italian Tech Week.” By the evening of October 2, when more than 20,000 people had already taken to the streets in solidarity with the Flotilla, some protesters entered the OGR industrial complex in protest against the event, while other activists on bicycles managed to enter the Caselle airport runway, causing a temporary suspension of air traffic and blocking the Turin-Savona highway. On October 3, activists from the SiCobas union blockaded the Amazon distribution center in Brandizzo, while further clashes with police occurred outside the OGR, which was completely barricaded.
In Florence, the regional secretary of the CGIL reported that over 100,000 people demonstrated, something he said he hadn’t seen since the anti-globalization protests in 2002. Several protesters set up barriers on the platforms at Campo di Marte station to prevent trains from passing.
In Palermo, the numbers are also historic: 30,000 people, according to organizers, gathered in front of the central station. Demonstrations also took place across the rest of Siciliy, including in Catania — where protesters occupied the station — as well as in Messina. In Sardinia, another 30,000 people participated in Cagliari, and demonstrations were held throughout the region. Even in Calabria, a region usually isolated from political movements, several marches were called in Catanzaro, Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia, Cosenza, Crotone, and Lamezia Terme, totalling 15,000 people according to the CGIL.
Meanwhile, at the head of the procession of several thousand people who marched through the streets of Bari, Puglia, were not unions, institutions, or political parties, reserved for the tail end of the march, but the Palestinian community and high school and university students, the main protagonists of this mobilization. At Bari airport, two incoming flights were also canceled due to the strike.
In Venice, where almost all incoming and outgoing trains were canceled, there were two marches, one marching from Mestre and one starting at the city center: the plan was to gather at the Ponte della Libertà, blocking the road that crosses it and connects the island to the mainland.
This was an important victory, as the government sought to criminalize the strike. In fact, the government declared the October 3 wildcat strike illegal, exposing the participating unions to possible sanctions. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticized the workers, insinuating that Friday’s strike had no other purpose than to extend the weekend — the last desperate measure of a now cornered government. The main unions did not give in to intimidation and went ahead with the strike anyway.
This attempt at repression illustrates Meloni’s unconditional support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The Italian regime criminalizes those who speak out about Palestine and maintains ties to the ongoing colonial project on the other side of the Mediterranean. With the help of a docile opposition, the Meloni government has defended the ongoing genocide and positioned itself as the hard core of the international reaction in Europe: from voting in favor of Israel in the United Nations General Assembly, spreading conspiracy theories about the “Islamization of Europe,” and adopting Islamophobic measures such as controlling mosques in the country. It has also harshly repressed the pro-Palestine movement, including cases of political espionage to spy on opposition forces, such as the infiltration of five agents from the anti-terrorist squad of “Cambiare Rotta” and “Potere al Popolo,” left-wing organizations linked to the USB union. It is also worth remembering that today Italy is the third largest arms exporter to Israel, after the United States and Germany.
On all these occasions, Italian leaders have demonstrated their commitment to diplomatic relations with Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Spurred on by pressure from the mass movement and strikes to change her stance, sending military frigates to escort the flotilla, Meloni quickly reverted to her old ways, ordering the navy to retreat before the Israeli attack. But the Italian people have rejected this sabotage, clearly saying “basta,” enough.
Protesters weren’t deterred by the fact that the strike was declared illegitimate. They weren’t deterred by the fact that Meloni’s government unconstitutionally applied its infamous security decree, a measure bordering on political persecution with which the government criminalizes dissent by intensifying legal repression against demonstrations, resistance to law enforcement, roadblocks, occupations, and blockades of strategic infrastructure: none of this prevented the Italian working class from organizing to take to the streets and blocking everything once again.
It doesn’t stop there: a national demonstration was called on October 4 in Rome, while the USB’s “100 Squares in Gaza” initiative continues, with permanent occupations and tent encampments in the main squares of all Italian cities. Mediterranean ports are coordinating to block all containers bound for Israel, following the example of Italian dockworkers, with notable results. Several encouraging signs are also coming from the aviation sector, such as statements from workers of the CGT, Sud, and Solidaires unions demanding an end to arms shipments from Paris’s Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport.
The working class is leading the way in Italy. This Friday’s mobilization propelled the movement for Palestine to a massive scale — unprecedented in two years — by strengthening it through strikes and methods of class struggle. Workers across the world must follow this example and join the struggle for Gaza, expand it further, and send a message to the entire world: the labor movement will not allow Israel to massacre the Palestinian people with impunity.
This article was translated and adapted from an article that originally appeared in French on October 3, 2025 in Révolution Permanente.