VICENZA, Italy: Demonstrators clashed with police in the Italian city of Vicenza on Saturday after demonstrating against the presence of Israeli exhibitors at an international jewelry fair.
Police used water cannons against protesters who fired smoke bombs and flares after violence erupted after a planned march by hundreds of people, some holding banners reading “Free Palestine” and “Stop the bombing of Gaza”.
More than 1,300 exhibitors from nearly 40 countries are exhibiting at the Vicenzaoro fair, which opened on Friday and will run until Tuesday, according to organizers.
According to media reports, the clashes occurred several kilometers away and had no impact on the event, declining to provide information on Israel’s presence at the fair.
Vicenza Mayor Giacomo Possamai said there was “no justification” for the violence.
“It also damages the causes it claims to support – it is a contradiction in terms when it comes to demonstrating for peace and a ceasefire through violence,” he said in a statement posted on social media.
Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, has been waging a relentless air and ground offensive in Gaza that has killed at least 25,000 Palestinians, some 70 percent of whom are women, children and youths, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
