Beyond the stoppages, gigantic marches that extended for kilometres occurred in the country’s largest cities. More conservative estimates suggested that one million people had been on the streets. According to Reuters, in Rome alone there were more than 300,000, in Milan more than 100,000, in Naples 50,000, in Venice 25,000, in the Sicilian cities more than 150,000. And the protests extended across more than one hundred cities.

This strike occurred despite having been declared illegal by the body that supervises these actions, which considered that the strike notice had not been timely. The CGIL [1], the country’s main trade union confederation and one of those that called the protest, counters that the strike had full legitimacy and filed an appeal.

The union structure announced that more than two million people took to the streets on this day and that general strike adherence was 60%.

Matteo Salvini, the far-right deputy prime minister and transport minister, threatened strikers and leaders: “those who are on strike today know that they are going against the law and run the risk of sanctions both at a personal level and as labour organisations”. From his point of view, “if today those who strike illegally cause thousands of millions of euros in damage to the Italian economy... then the sanctions must be proportional to the damage caused.”

Meanwhile the head of government, Meloni [2], his rival in the far-right political camp, preferred to try to devalue what had happened, ironising that the strike had been merely an excuse for a long weekend, saying that “long weekends and revolutions don’t mix”.

Maurizio Landini, CGIL leader, responds that “this is not just any strike. We were here today defending brotherhood between individuals, between peoples, to place humanity at the centre, to say no to genocide, to a policy of rearmament”. Furthermore, “the extraordinary and unprecedented participation of young people, who demand a future of peace and social justice, with stable employment and fighting precarity”.

On the political-party side, the entire left was present. With Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, which has two MPs on the flotilla, saying it was “a beautiful day of mobilisation and strike action with a high level of participation that shows that Italy is better than those who govern it”.

There were also blockades of railway stations and some roads in various parts of Italy. Access to the port of Livorno was blocked and the port of Naples was as well. As was the runway at Pisa airport. Police resorted to water cannons and tear gas in various situations.