Bologna, 8 May 2024 – “I am very happy that the students of my University are here to ask rights and freedoms for Palestine. I will always be with you and I will do everything to support you.” Talking is Patrick Zaki who this afternoon participated in a public meeting with the students who have been organizing an ‘acampada’ with tents for five days in Piazza Scaravilli as a sign of solidarity towards the Palestinian population.
“We cannot accept – the words of the Egyptian activist – that universities still have collaborations and agreements with Israel. We cannot accept thatand our taxes and our money is part of what is happening in Gaza.”
According to Zaki, the government must also “take a stand” compared to what is happening in Palestine because “staying silent means being complicit in this crime”.
A crime which, the activist recalls, “must be stopped as soon as possible. We have the power to stop all this and we must do everything we can to achieve our goal.”
Zaki then invited Bolognese students to coordinate at a national level with other universities, to the point of bringing these requests to Parliament. “You can make real change – he underlines – continue to spread news about what is happening in the Gaza Strip, continue to talk about what is happening in Palestine, you have an important role in this regard. I don’t want to generalise, but the media only tell part of what is happening in the Middle East.” The activist then lashed out again the Israeli prime minister and his government: “In October – he says – I was attacked for having written that Netanyahu he is a war criminal, but I won’t take a step back on this and I won’t apologize. He and his government are the main cause of what is happening in Gaza.”
After the meeting ended, Zaki then joined at the student parade which he crossed from Piazza Scaravilli the historic center shouting ‘Free Palestine‘. The demonstrators, about 200 people, escorted by police officers and Digos, then reached Piazza Maggiore. Here, some of them took a ladder and climbed up on the Neptune fountain where they have bound a flag with Palestinian colors.
