SHOTLIST: ROME, ITALY (OCT. 8, 2025) (ANADOLU – ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS SHOUTING SLOGANS, MARCHING, HOLDING BANNERS AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS IN FRONT OF THE COLOSSEUM IN ROMEROME, ITALY - OCT. 8: Thousands of Italians took to the streets on Wednesday, Oct. 8, to denounce Israel’s assault on the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The attack sparked widespread outrage in cities including Rome, Milan, Naples, and Salerno, where demonstrators expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people and called for an end to Israel’s blockade and military actions. In the capital Rome, crowds gathered in front of the iconic Colosseum before marching toward the Piramide district, chanting slogans such as “Freedom for Palestine,” “Stop the genocide,” and “From the river to the sea, free Palestine,” while waving Palestinian flags and holding torches. Demonstrators also targeted the Italian government, chanting “Meloni resign” and “Government resign,” accusing it of complicity in Israeli actions. In Milan, over 5,000 people joined a march from Lodi Square to Leonardo da Vinci Square, bringing traffic to a halt. Some drivers honked in support of the demonstrators. Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Wednesday that the Italian embassy and consulate in Tel Aviv have been closely monitoring since early morning the Israeli navy’s blockade of a new flotilla bound for Gaza. The Israeli Navy attacked all nine ships of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC)’s Thousand Madleens to Gaza early Wednesday in international waters, roughly 120 nautical miles (222 kilometers) from the enclave, according to the humanitarian initiative. The FFC, established in 2010, has launched dozens of missions aimed at delivering aid and drawing global attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Israel-besieged Gaza Strip. The latest convoy set sail after Israeli naval forces attacked and seized more than 40 boats sailing to Gaza last week to challenge the Israeli blockade, and detained more than 450 activists on board. Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years and further tightened the siege in March when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine. Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.