Italian port blocks arms for Israel as worker protests mount

19/9/2025 7:26

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.