A morning of tension and aggression, with ambulances and police arriving, at the Caravillani high school in Monteverde , Rome. It all started during recess, when students were mobilizing for the pro- Gaza demonstrations , chanting “Free Free Palestine ,” and discussing how to join the initiatives in support of the Global Sumud Flotilla .
The situation immediately became tense when several members of the Jewish community emerged from the nearby synagogue—which shares part of the courtyard with the art institute. Among them was reportedly Riccardo Pacifici , the former president of Rome’s Jewish community, who could now help clarify what happened. A rather heated argument ensued. It then escalated outside the school on Via della Villa Pamphili around 1:30 p.m., when the same people with whom the previous argument had occurred were waiting outside the building.
The argument, the threats
At that point, according to witnesses, violence erupted against the students, with slaps and shoves. A couple of teachers , who intervened to defend the students, were reportedly slightly injured. “We were attacked by these people as we were leaving,” one of the high school students recounted . “A guy pulled out a lock of hair from a friend of mine and they threatened us to leave and keep quiet.” Police arrived on the scene within minutes, identifying around twenty people on both sides. Footage from surveillance cameras in the area is being examined. According to the reconstruction, one of the teachers went to the police station to file a complaint. “Some of my friends went to the hospital in an ambulance. There was absolute panic outside, and now we’re scared because those people are right next to our school,” a 15-year-old student said.
Dare: Zionist aggression
Leaders of the Osa Roma collective also arrived on the scene immediately . “Extremely serious: this morning at Caravillani, Zionists kicked and punched very young students between the ages of 14 and 18, as well as several teachers , under the complicit gaze of the police forces present,” the official statement from Osa said. “In Rome in particular, as throughout Italy, these individuals enjoy resounding impunity: the State is complicit in the Zionist squadrism. We send our full solidarity to the affected children and workers. Israel is afraid of solidarity with Palestine . After the blockade of the Sumud ships yesterday and today, Italy is already paralyzed, and with it the schools, which today held strikes and extraordinary assemblies with blockades everywhere. Tomorrow we will empty the schools with a large-scale general and student strike for Palestine and against Zionism. The ground crew will not take a step back. We will block everything!”
