by Giovanni Giacalone
The April 25 Liberation Day celebrations in Milan had an embarrassing outcome for local authorities as Jews were removed from the procession after a paralysis lasting over two hours as the group was blocked by hundreds of far-left, pro-Palestinian and pro-Iranian regime demonstrators carrying Palestinian, Hezbollah and Iranian flags and yelling anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slogans and “Zionists out of the march”.
Emanuele Fiano, a Jewish former lawmaker from the center-left Democratic Party who leads Italy’s Left for Israel movement (Sinistra per Israele), said some demonstrators shouted at Jewish participants that they “should have ended up as soap,” an apparent reference to Nazi-era crimes.
Fiano also added: “We have been expelled by a minority. This has never happened in the fifty years since I’ve been participating”.
Among the Jewish demonstrators were representatives of the historical Jewish Brigade, a unit of Jewish volunteers from British Mandatory Palestine who served in the British Army during World War II and fought the Nazis in Italy, as well as members of Milan’s Jewish community, a delegation of young people from Forza Italia (FI), the Hashomer Hatzair (Israeli scouts), as well as Iranian and Ukrainians dissidents carrying their respective flags; they were also insulted by the pro-Iran, pro-Palestinian and pro-Russian mob.
The Jewish demonstrators were protected by a modest number of riot police, perhaps too few in light of such a largely predictable situation.
As told to ANSA news agency by Davide Riccardo Romano, director of the Jewish Brigade Museum: “We were chased away by the police; it’s a serious matter, and we’ll talk about it”.
As the demonstrators reached the intersection of Corso Venezia and Via Senato they encountered a wall of angry protesters; at that point, the police asked them to move aside and leave the march. After a standoff of over two hours, they were forced out of the way.
A delegation of the Jewish Brigade was later received by Milan’s Chief of Police Bruno Megale and the Prefect, Claudio Sgaraglia.
Daniele Nahum, a city councilor for Azione and a member of the Jewish community said: “There has been a quantum leap in the insults. We are concerned, but we will not bow our heads, and next year we intend to march in full…Since 1938, Jews have not been prevented from demonstrating”.
The Washington Outsider spoke to some members of the delegation and managed to gather a series of elements on the incident:
- The number of anti-riot police agents was largely insufficient to protect the Jewish, Iranian and Ukrainian demonstrators and that is an interesting aspect that raises questions considering that the situation was largely predictable given the rampant anti-Semitism and inflammatory tone of the previous weeks towards the presence of the Jewish Brigade. It’s important to keep in mind that Milan has long been a troubled city for extremism, with a strong presence of pro-Palestinian, far-left, and Islamist groups. On April 11, 2026, Milan’s Police Chief, Bruno Megale, raised the alarm about the anti-Semitic trend within the pro-Pal movement. The risks were well known. It is therefore unclear why the Ministry of Interior did not order the presence of more anti-riot police forces
- The police decided not to repel the extremists surrounding the Jews in order to “safeguard the general interest of the demonstration.” Whatever this may mean, it is unconceivable. If warding off the extremists meant going against the general interest of the demonstration, then what was the general interest? This is an alarming point.
- Th stand-off lasted for over two hours and the scenes were broadcasted live by the YouTube channel Local Team. The paralysis seriously endangered the safety of the protesters, who were blocked and protected by an insufficient number of officers while a river of insult-throwing protesters flowed alongside them.
The demonstration can be watched on the Local Team YouTube channel at this link.
A woman wearing a Hezbollah t-shirt and carrying the sign “Iran flatten them” in Milan on April 25, 2026
The besieged demonstrators
Pro-Palestinians flying the flags of the Iranian regime and Yemen in front of the Jewish Brigade
Beyond the words: a predictable situation
Following the chaos in Milan, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni published a post on her X account condemning the events:
To recap. During some of the April 25th demonstrations, which are supposed to celebrate freedom from all oppression:
- Attacks against those carrying a Ukrainian flag (including politicians), the flag of a people fighting for their freedom against an invader. Disgraceful images were even seen of an elderly man being prevented from participating in the demonstration;
- Democratically elected mayors, from all political persuasions, were challenged and insulted;
- Signs and plaques commemorating the Foibe massacres were defaced;
- The Jewish Brigade was insulted in the square and forced to leave the march under police escort.
If these are the ones who claim to defend freedom and democracy, I’d say we have a problem.
Well, yes, there is clearly a problem, and it has persisted for quite some time. Since October 2023, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment have been steadily increasing, yet the Italian authorities have taken very limited action to address the issue.
In July 2025, following a series of antisemitic attacks in Rome, Milan, and Turin, the president of the Jewish community of Milan, Walker Meghnagi, explained to the Milan-based newspaper Il Giorno:
“The legislation regarding so-called hate crimes is insufficient; it neither protects nor prevents. We see this every day. Furthermore, we need an awareness campaign against antisemitism aimed at prevention…We are seriously concerned about what is happening and would like the legislator to urgently address this emergency. In recent weeks, there has been a steady stream of incidents that put the safety of Jews at risk. Action must be taken as soon as possible.”
The anti-Semitic epidemic on Italian soil has been widely documented in the past three years by the media and by the CDEC Anti-Semitism Observatory whose senior researcher, Stefano Gatti, had already explained on several occasions that, while reported incidents of antisemitism prior to October 7, 2023, were around thirty per month, there has since been a dramatic increase with a current average of around one hundred per month.
As to Meloni’s post stating that on Saturday the Jewish demonstrators “were forced to leave the march under police escort”, the Jewish Brigade Museum Director, Davide Romano, stated: “we were chased away by the police” and, since he was present at the march and witnessed the whole event, we have no reason to believe otherwise. Especially, after viewing the video footage.
Could it be that the authorities rather chose the simplest option? Removing “the problem” (the presence of the besieged demonstrators) to avoid having to repel a large number of extremists and risking images of police charges on Liberation Day on the evening news? Could this be the reason?
It’s a shame that by doing so, a basic principle of the Constitution regarding freedom of demonstration was violated and an immeasurable injustice was perpetrated against Jews, Ukrainians, and Iranian anti-regime protesters.
As stated by Daniele Nahum: “Since 1938, Jews have not been prevented from demonstrating”.
This is a sad record on the part of the Meloni-led government and the local authorities that could have been avoided with more courageous decision-making.
The precedents of a predictable fiasco
The 2024 Liberation Day attack
During the April 25, 2024, celebrations, the Jewish Brigade had already been attacked in Piazza Duomo square; on that occasion, by a group of North African thugs wearing kefyas and Palestinian flags. Members of the group were assaulted with punches, kicks, sticks and at least one person was slashed with a blade. Many of the Jewish demonstrators were elderly people, some of them carrying a banner that was also slashed with a knife by one of the attackers. One of the thugs repeatedly tried to stick a City Angel in the face with the flag pole.
As reported by the Washington Outsider at the time, the attack took place between a line of parked police vans and the front entrance of Mc Donald’s restaurant, just about 150 meters from the entrance of the Duomo Cathedral.
Sadly, the attack went on for way too long; minutes and minutes of endless violence, in front of the incredulous and frightened eyes of the demonstrators and bystanders, while the volunteer City Angels tried to keep the thugs away, basically performing the work that the police should have done.
A Jewish Brigade demonstrator slashed by one of the thugs in 2024
The attackers, who spat at and insulted the Jewish demonstrators, sought physical confrontation in every possible way. One of the most saddening scenes is a woman with the Star of David sign banging her hand against the police van asking for help while her fellow Jews are being assaulted, but nobody is seen coming out of the van.
Some of the Facebook comments of those who witnessed the fact are quite clear:
“The police van was there, but nobody came out”… And again:
“But the police did nothing, and basically it was like if the few police that were present, weren’t even there”.
The 2024 Holocaust Memorial Day “free Gaza from Hamas” issue
A few months before, on January 27th 2024, the Holocaust Memorial Day, a pro-Palestinian unauthorized demonstration was held in Milan’s Piazzale Loreto, precisely via Padova, a street with a high presence of Muslims.
In theory, the demonstration was not supposed to take place, since the authorities had requested the organizers to postpone it to the following day, Sunday the 28th, to avoid having it on the Holocaust Memorial. However, around 1,200 demonstrators belonging to Giovani Palestinesi (Young Palestinians) and others belonging to the far-left formations took the streets.
During the demonstration, 22-year-old student Mihael Melnic exposed from the window of his building, right above the demonstrators, a hand-written cardboard sign saying “Free Gaza from Hamas” (see video here). The demonstrators did not appreciate the message and had a verbally violent reaction, insulting him, telling him to “come downstairs” and yelling “Now we know where you live”.
What’s more pro-Palestinian than a sign calling upon the liberation of Gaza from Hamas?
Well, incredibly, the plainclothes DIGOS police immediately paid a visit to Melnic, violently banging on his door, entering his apartment, identifying him, asking him all kinds of personal questions, and trying to take the sign away from him, as explained by Melnic himself in an interview with The Times of Israel. Melnic did not give in to police pressure and did not surrender the sign.
On that occasion, just like last Saturday, the tactic seems to have been that of removing the minor problem (a person exposing a sign from his private property) with a highly questionable action on several levels, rather than intervening against the extremists (the unauthorized demonstration was in fact neither repelled nor dissolved).
Mihale Melnic exposing the sign from the window of his flat in Milan
In conclusion
On Saturday, the authorities in Milan failed on three levels:
- At a precautionary level, they failed to implement proper preventive and organizational measures to guarantee everyone’s freedom to demonstrate.
- At an operational level, rather than responding decisively to pressure from extremist groups, the authorities remained paralyzed for hours and ultimately escorted the Jewish Brigade and anti-regime Iranian participants away from the march, excluding them from the parade.
- In the aftermath of the demonstration, the message that emerges is that, because antisemitism is inflaming tensions, the situation is deemed unmanageable.
This sends a highly dangerous signal from public institutions, as it risks encouraging further anti-democratic and antisemitic behavior. Moreover, it is evident that the government and institutions have failed to address the rise in antisemitism since October 2023. The apparent policy of “allowing people to vent” in order to avoid escalating social conflict—whatever its intended security rationale—has clearly contributed to today’s outcome.
In the case of Milan, the situation has appeared particularly problematic for years. The previous cases indicate that the local authorities seem reluctant to take decisive action against pro-Palestinian and far-left extremists during demonstrations.
It is worth recalling that, on September 22, 2025, during a national strike for Gaza, hundreds of far-left, pro-Palestinian rioters stormed Milan’s central station, with the police, again appearing understaffed, having serious difficulties in countering the assault.
Following the clashes, the Autonomous Police Union (SAP) Secretary General Stefano Paoloni, made an inflammatory statement: “…These are the usual professionals of disorder who seek confrontation regardless of the reason for the demonstration. Law enforcement was subjected to all kinds of violence, but, apparently, it was decided not to offer resistance other than to contain the disturbances. The risk of incidents being exploited,” he concluded, “cannot prevail over the safety of officers. The 60 officers injured in the Milan demonstration are proof that we were used as target practice.”
Even back then, the government issued declarations of solidarity and condemned the violence, but shouldn’t those in power implement prevention and countermeasures, rather than simply make declarations? If today we’re once again hearing about yet another public order breach in Milan, something is clearly amiss.