Protesters clashed with police in the Italian city of Vicenza after a demonstration against the supposed presence of Israeli exhibitors at an international jewelry fair.
Police used water cannon against demonstrators who fired smoke bombs and flares after violence erupted after a planned march by hundreds of people, some holding up banners saying “Free Palestine” and “Stop Bombing Gaza.”
Vicenza mayor Giacomo Possamai says there was “no justification” for the violence.
“It also hurts the causes that it claims to support — it is a contradiction in terms to demonstrate for peace and a ceasefire through violence,” he says in a statement posted on social media.
“Yesterday’s violence at the Vicenzaoro fair, was an aggression that took place in a climate of irresponsible legitimisation of hatred, of distortion and abuse of constitutional concepts and principles. And so, in the Italy that is about to celebrate the Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January, with the election campaign for the European elections already underway, the hunt for the Jewish-Israeli or Jewish-Israeli is on” said UCEI President Noemi Di Segni.
