“It’s not over yet, we want Palestine to be free, just like we want our friend and brother Muhammad Shahin to be free,” one of the protesters called into the microphone in front of the newspaper’s offices on Lugaro Street. In the Instagram group, KSA (“Kollettivo Studentesco Autonomo”) explained that the crime was committed because the journalists were responsible for “portraying Mohammed Shahin as a terrifying terrorist”.
Shahin, who has regularly participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Turin, caused a stir last month after describing the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel as “an act of resistance, which occurred after years of occupation.”
Activists from the “Torino for Gaza” movement condemned the move as racist and Islamophobic, saying: “He cannot return (to Egypt), where he could face torture and life imprisonment”, and added: “Behind all of this is a clear political will: to arrest those who mobilized against the genocide in Palestine.”
It was also reported in Wanted in Milan that the “La Stampa” editor strongly condemned the incident, calling it a “severe attack” on the press, “and even more cowardly because it took place on the day of the national strike of journalists for the renewal of work contracts and the protection of the quality of democratic, free and broad information.”
“Without the intervention of law enforcement, the protesters, some of them naked and some of them with masks, broke down two doors in the office,” the newspaper’s statement said, “They shouted ‘Terrorist journalist, you are first on the list,’ they penetrated the system, vandalized walls, tore up books and valuable documents that we use every day. A violent attack on the newspaper and the media in general.”