It was in the ‘Hell of the North’ that Palestinian supporters helped Tadej Pogačar get back on his feet and get going in the classic bike race Paris-Roubaix. American cycling commentator, Chris Horner, winner of La Vuelta, is giving Palestine supporters a serve for intervening in stage six of the Giro d’Italia, accusing the protesters of being criminals and of assaulting two of breakaway specialists by having them ride through a tape … like you would at the end of any race.
In what was a minor incident that had no impact on the race outcome, Horner called on Italian police to be sacked for allowing this to happen. In fact Italian police had spent the hours preceding the protest tear gassing and clubbing Palestine supporters on the streets of Napoli.
Chris Horner’s American listeners piled on, making absurd comments like “I sure hope they arrested those criminals” and “those two police officers should be suspended for not taking any action to protect the athletes.” Meanwhile the Gaza Sunbirds are riding around Gaza without their limbs because of Israeli bombing.
Palestinian protesters waving flags at the three kilometre mark in stage 6 of the Giro d’Italia
Il Gazzettino Vesuviano reporting the incident wrote:
“The final kilometres of the stage were affected when two demonstrators tried to stop the race to protest the participation of Israel Premier Tech, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. One of the activists, a 67-year-old man from Naples, was stopped and charged by the police.“
A Palestinian supporter had this to say: “The Giro d’Italia was passing through the Apulian city and plainclothes officers climbed up to the sixth floor to demand that the banner be removed from a balcony: ‘The officers told us of public order reasons that we did not understand. The next day an official called us to apologise”.
Palestinian flag hanging from the balcony on the route of the Giro d’Italia.
I don’t know how effective these protests are but they are certainly being conducted worldwide while Israel is bombing Gaza to smithereens.
Ian Curr
17 May 2025