Some pro-Palestine activists forcibly opened the gates at the entrance to the Turin Book Fair. Waiting for them were police officers in riot gear, protected by shields and truncheons. “It is unacceptable that in a hall where culture and solidarity are promoted one cannot enter with a flag and bring the voice of the Palestinian people”, declared the demonstrators shortly before kicking the barriers around the main entrance and entering to the external area of the literary event. “The hall is full of Zionists, it is full of falsehoods”, shouted the activists of the demonstration organized by the Turin coordination for Rafah. A few hundred people participated in the protest, coming from student collectives, social centers, the Palestinian Islamic community and beyond. The demonstrators unfurled a large Palestinian flag in front of the Lingotto fairgrounds, while among the banners displayed we read «All eyes on Rafah. Let’s block everything”, “Stop occupation, stop genocide, Turin for Gaza” and “Falastin Libera”.
The delegation of five demonstrators
After activists stormed the courtyard of the Book Fair, a delegation of five pro-Palestine protesters was allowed to enter. «Many people support us in there. The voice of Palestine is also in there. There is a lot of solidarity from within too. This flag can unite us all, as it has been doing for months, this gives us the strength to continue because we are on the right side of history”, one of them told the journalists present on site.
The solidarity of Zerocalcare
After the irruption of the demonstrators, the cartoonist Zerocalcare suspended his work to go out to meet the activists and give his support to the demonstration. “On this side and on the other side of the gates we are a large network of people who work at the salon and who could not ignore this protest that was happening outside,” said Zerocalcare, born Michele Rech. «People who care about the Palestinian issue – added the cartoonist – cannot fail to be here, a space that talks about culture and current events cannot close its eyes to History with a capital H, because we will have to respond for a long time to massacre that is underway in Palestine. It is the most normal thing in the world for these issues to be discussed in a space like the Salone.”
On the cover: The pro-Palestine demonstration outside the Turin Book Fair, 11 May 2024 (ANSA/Tino Romano)
