«Turin knows which side it is on: Palestine free from the river to the sea». «Intifada everywhere». The procession of pro-Palestine groups sets off amidst choirs and banners and must cross the city from Palazzo Nuovo to reach the Valentino Castle. Among the hundreds of demonstrators, one of the first to arrive is Brahim Baya, the spokesperson of the mosque in Via Taiba, who hit the national headlines for having led Islamic prayers inside the occupied Palazzo Nuovo. «I participate as I have always done as a militant of the Turin for Gaza coordination – he explains -. Today, despite the controversies, we are here with people of different cultures and different faiths to denounce the massacre still ongoing in Gaza.”
The controversy over the mosque spokesperson
At the head of the march are the university collectives, who for four weeks have occupied three university buildings (Palazzo Nuovo, Fisica and the Polytechnic) to ask for an academic boycott of Israel and the termination of the universities’ agreements with companies in the war supply chain. «In recent days there have been two types of exploitation – adds Baya, recalling the controversy raised by his sermon in the atrium of UniTo -: they tried to attack the students through me and a certain right wing used what happened for their electoral partner: they didn’t know what to talk about and brought up Islamophobia.”
Next to each other, about ten young people hold up the “Intifada everywhere” banner. Behind them were students, but also families and representatives of the city’s mosques. United by the cry “Free Palestine”, they parade through Corso San Maurizio and Regina. “We can’t look the other way,” shouts an activist.
The solidarity of Porta Palazzo
The protesters arrive at Porta Palazzo and find the solidarity of traders and citizens present, who join the choirs and take photographs. “Stand there and I’ll take a photo of you,” a part of her says to her daughter with the procession behind her. The little girl gives her a thumbs up. “How nice, dad.” The students introduce themselves: «For four weeks we have been asking for a boycott and we know that it is possible: in Spain and in other countries the agreements with Israel have been interrupted, here the only thing missing is political will». Applause.
