Thousands in Italy rally for Palestinians despite Holocaust Day ban
Several thousand people took to the streets in different parts of Italy, joining demonstrations in support of Palestinians despite a police ban on the events that come as the world marks Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Hundreds of participants joined demonstrations in Rome and other cities on Saturday in rallies that were almost all peaceful, police said.
Around 1,200 people took to the streets in Milan, where there were scuffles with the police. Some demonstrators chanted and carried posters accusing Israel of genocide.
The demonstrations were banned at short notice by the municipal authorities in Rome on Friday after an appeal by the right-wing government, in order to prevent hate speech about Israel on Saturday.
January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, for the more than 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis.
The rally in Rome was called under the banner "Stop the genocide of the Palestinian people" and is now due to be held on a different date.
On January 27, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the German concentration camp Auschwitz in occupied Poland. The day has been marked as Holocaust Memorial Day in Germany since 1996. The United Nations made the date a day of remembrance in 2005.
