The march began peacefully, but ended with police using water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesters in order to keep them away from the stadium.
Early signs of unrest emerged when around 10,000 people moved through the city centre toward the Friuli Stadium about 6 pm local time.
The sound of drums and music accompanied dancers of all ages waving Palestinian flags and banners reading “Show Israel the red card.”
Demonstrators carried an 18-metre-long Palestinian flag and displayed a metallic statue symbolizing justice, holding scales in one hand and a red card in the other.
The demonstrators called on FIFA, football’s world governing body, to exclude Israel from international competitions, just as it suspended Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Participants also chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “Genocidal Israel.”
Amer Hasan, a representative of the Palestinian communities in the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions, was among those who organized the march along with four other associations.
“We shouldn’t be playing this match because a team representing a nation that has committed genocide is participating,” Hasan, a 61-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank who has lived in Italy since moving there to study 42 years ago, told AFP.
At the end of the march, which included 340 activist groups from across Italy, Italian police fired tear gas to stop protesters from reaching the stadium.
The fixture was played in a mostly empty stadium due to a boycott of the Israeli national team over the Gaza Genocide.
Israeli players were booed by the few in attendance during their national anthem.
Italy went on to defeat Israel 3-0, securing a place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup playoff round.
Public anger has grown in Italy over the national football federation’s (FIGC) refusal to consider boycotting matches against Israel, unlike the Norwegian Football Association (NFF), whose president Lise Klaveness recently said Israel should face sanctions.
“The Norwegian FA has begun taking a position against the presence of Israeli teams. There’s a totally different attitude compared to what we see here in Italy,” said Carlina, an activist from the Udine Committee for Palestine who helped organize the march.
The decision to hold a World Cup qualifier between Italy and Israel has sparked political and public criticism across Italy.
Left-wing and civil society groups condemned the timing of the match as provocative and accused Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government of siding with Israel, despite Italy’s participation in the ceasefire signing ceremony held Monday in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
According to a report by Al Jazeera Net, Italian politicians revealed that Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi had secretly authorized Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, to operate in Udine on 14 October to secure the Israeli delegation ahead of the match, part of Group I in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Member of Parliament Marco Rimaldi described the decision as “not only politically irresponsible but also institutionally inconceivable.”
Italian media reports suggested from the outset that the Udine match was seen as more than just a sporting event.
The encounter increasingly took on the dimensions of a high-level security and intelligence operation.
Reports also revealed that the Israeli players were accommodated in a secret location, kept under continuous surveillance, and subject to strict security measures around the clock until their departure from Italy, according to Al Jazeera.
On 3 October, a general strike across Italy in support of Palestinians and the Gaza aid flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade disrupted trains and port traffic, causing chaos for commuters as tens of thousands took to the streets in protest.
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