Florence, during the Tour de France, had given itself the slogan; Florence is dyed yellow. Instead, yesterday during Stage 1 Florence – Rimini it was dyed with the colors of the Palestinian flag.
Many activists in solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people, organized in groups or spontaneously, demonstrated during the start in Florence and along the route with banners, placards and flags to contest the participation of the Israeli team Israel Premier Tech and the complicity of #UCI ( International Cycling Union) and Tour de France with Israel’s “sportwashing”, the cleansing through sport of its serious crimes against the Palestinians.
Israel, in the Tour that started in Florence, wanted to add to its cycling team two survivors of the Hamas attack on October 7. One of the two lost a son, his wife and a leg. They were made to pedal for a few kilometers in front of the professional athletes. They told their story at the synagogue in Florence and will do so at every stage.
No Palestinian team at the Tour and no survivor brought to tell his story. Already during the Great March Israeli snipers shot preferably at the legs. The Gaza Sunbirds, a group of amputee cyclists, had continued to train in Gaza, cycling up and down the narrow strip several times in the available territory in view of the Paralympics. This is in fact the only type of competition that remains to the Palestinians, the effect of the violence of the occupier.
Florence for Palestine
July 1, 2024 – © Reproduction possible WITH EXPLICIT CONSENT of the CONTROPIANO EDITORIAL TEAM
Last edit: June 30, 2024, 9:53 p.m.
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