Continue to Tour de France the pro mobilization Palestine. In the afternoon, during the stage of the Grande Boucle which touched Bologna, five people adhering to the Fund for Repair of Last generation, they occupied via Masserenti, the street under the Mazzini station bridge, sitting down, chaining themselves together and pouring red paint on themselves and on the street. It is not the first time that activists have moved in this edition of the most famous stage race in the world. Two days ago in Florence there was a protest by some exponents of ‘Florence for Palestine’ on the occasion of the team parade, against the participation of the Israel Premier Tech team in the race. The demonstrators had hung banners on the Rampe del Poggi with the writing ‘Stop genocide’ e ‘Enough massacres and deportations of Palestinians‘, along with a Palestinian flag.
An action, documented in a story on Instagram, to “denounce – writes Ultima Generazione – the genocide underway in Palestine”. But above all time “to symbolize the blood of those who are currently dying in Palestine killed by the IDF (Israel defense force, the Israeli army) and by the complicity of Western governments, such as the Italian government”. In the meantime, the note reads,“People from the Palestinian Youth organization lowered a banner reading ‘Long live Palestinian resistance/globalizetheintifada/freegaza’ from the bridge, while others waved Palestinian flags at the finish line. The people who carried out the blockade were removed by the police and placed in custody waiting to be reported.”
“Today’s action is part of the campaign #stradachiusaalgenocidio against sport washing and the attempt of the genocidal Zionist entity to mask its crimes. For some years the spectacle of cycling has been stained with the blood of Israel-Premier Tech. What should be a moment of celebration and popular participation has become a propaganda and branding tool for those who have occupied the land of another people for more than 76 years and systematically use the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population” says a spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth organization.
Then the direct attack with the intention of continuing along this line: “We cannot accept that in the face of genocide, 40,000 Palestinians murdered by Israel and more than 1 million refugees, the International Cycling Union and the organizers of the Tour de France continue to allow an Israeli team to participate in international competitions.
Yet another Western double standard as Russian and Belarusian teams have been denied a UCI license from 2022. We hope that actions like today’s will be repeated in all stages of the Tour up to Marseille.”
