Italian port blocks arms for Israel as worker protests mount

ROME (Reuters) -The Italian Adriatic port of Ravenna on Thursday refused entry to two trucks said to be carrying arms to Israel, as protests mount among Italian dockworkers and other labour groups against the offensive in Gaza.

The centre-left mayor of Ravenna, Alessandro Barattoni, told reporters the port authority had accepted the request from him and the regional government to deny access to the lorries carrying explosives en route to the Israeli port of Haifa.

"The Italian state says it has blocked the sale of arms to Israel but it is unacceptable that, thank to bureaucratic loopholes, they can pass through Italy from other countries," Barattoni said in a statement.

He did not provide details on where the containers had come from or provide evidence of their contents.

Similar action to block arms shipments to Israel has been taken by dockworkers in other European countries such as France, Sweden and Greece.

Ravenna's decision reflects growing mobilisation in Italy against Israel's assault and in support of an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to the Palestinians.

A spokesperson from the Israeli embassy in Rome said they did not have sufficiently detailed information about the case and so declined to comment. Israel's government sometimes accuses European nations of bias against it and swallowing propaganda by the Hamas militant group whom it is fighting in Gaza.

On Friday Italy's largest trade union body, the CGIL, will hold a national half-day strike and marches in Rome and other cities, while on September 22 two other unions will halt work and try to block activity in the large ports of Genoa and Livorno.

"We won't let a single pin through the port," said Riccardo Rudino from the Calp dockers' union in Genoa.

Israel's current military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, and left much of the enclave in ruins.

It launched the offensive after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies.

The CGIL said its protests were aimed at generating pressure on Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government "to suspend all commercial and military cooperation agreements with Israel, lift the humanitarian embargo, and recognise the State of Palestine."

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Thursday Italy would support EU sanctions against violent Israeli settlers and Israeli ministers who have made "unacceptable" comments on Gaza and the West Bank, and was open to considering trade sanctions.

(Reporting by Anna Uras, writing by Gavin Jones, editing by Alvise Armellini and Andrew Cawthorne)