Strike for Gaza: Milan comes to a standstill: metro, bus, tram, and train schedules, as well as the demonstration in the city center.

Milan, along with about seventy other Italian cities, is on strike. The strike today, Monday, September 22, was called by the Unione Sindacale di Base (UBB) to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, support the Global Sumud Flotilla project—the group of vessels attempting to deliver aid to Palestine by sea—and demand the government sever all relations with Israel. Workers in various sectors, including public transport workers, are on strike. Teachers and staff from schools and universities are also participating.

ATM metro, bus and tram timetables

ATM workers in Milan are also joining the strike. The Foro Buonaparte company announced that public transport service is not guaranteed between 8:45 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. until the end of the day (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 7:30 p.m. for the Brunate funicular).

The strike, ATM's statement reads, was called due to the worsening "humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, the object of a veritable genocide by the State of Israel and the continued plundering of Palestinian territory; the Israeli army's total blockade of humanitarian arrivals to the exhausted population; serious threats of attack by the Israeli government against the ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla humanitarian mission; concrete risk of attack by the Israeli armed forces on the flotilla's ships; inertia of the Italian government and the European Union in rejecting the serious statements of Israeli ministers equating the crews of the Guardia di Finanza with terrorists; unwillingness of the European Union and the Italian government to impose sanctions commensurate with the gravity of the situation and to interrupt all institutional relations and economic, scientific and political collaboration with the State of Israel."

Trenord train timetables

The strike may also impact Trenord's regional, suburban, airport, and long-distance services. Trains scheduled during the guaranteed time slots, from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., will still be operated, as per the list of guaranteed trains available here .

Trains scheduled to depart by 11:59 PM on Sunday, September 21st and arrive by 12:59 AM on Monday, September 22nd will reach their final destination as scheduled. In the event of cancellation of airport services, replacement buses will operate without intermediate stops between Milan Cadorna and Malpensa Airport, departing from Via Paleocapa 1, and between Stabio and Malpensa Airport on the S50 line. Trenord, in a statement, urges passengers to pay attention to the official app and the audio announcements and information on the monitors in the stations.

The procession's route in Milan

In Milan, as in other Italian cities, a march will begin at 10 a.m. from Piazzale Cadorna. Earlier, high school students will gather in Piazza Cairoli at 9:30 a.m., before joining the march. The march will pass through Viale Gadio, Via Legnano, the Porta Volta Bastions, Viale Crispi, the Porta Nuova Bastions, Viale Monte Santo, Piazza Repubblica, and Via Vittor Pisani, before concluding in Piazza Duca d'Aosta, in front of the Central Station.

'Camped' in Cadorna

Since Sunday evening, several protesters have been camped out at Cadorna station, "a signal," Potere al Popolo Milano wrote on social media, "to give strength to the day of general strike." Dozens of people gathered in front of the train junction, holding Palestinian flags, some even carrying tents. A banner with the protest slogan was displayed: "Block everything."

"As ground crew, we are ready to resolutely defend the Global Sumud Flotilla: let's stop the genocide and the Meloni government's complicity with Zionism, let's block everything!" we read on social media.