Professor and Student Beaten After Pro-Palestine Protesters Storm Lecture at University of Pisa
Lecturer Rino Casella and a student were injured after demonstrators entered a classroom to confront the professor over his criticism of the university severing ties with Israeli institutions
A political science lecturer at the University of Pisa was assaulted and a student who tried to intervene was beaten after a group of pro-Palestine demonstrators stormed a classroom on Tuesday, university and local media said.
Rino Casella, who was delivering a law class, was kicked and punched and later treated at a hospital for injuries to his head and arms, according to statements he made to the Italian daily La Repubblica. Casella said the protesters entered the lecture because he had criticised the university’s decision to sever academic ties with two Israeli universities and that leaflets against him had circulated on campus.
Dozens of activists carrying Palestinian flags and using megaphones burst into the room, the lecturer said, surrounding him, climbing on desks and hurling insults as he tried to continue the lesson. Casella said one student attempted to grab a flag from a protester and was kicked and punched; he said he stepped in to shield that student and was struck as well.
"I represent the institutions, and the attack against me is an attack on the university," Casella told La Repubblica, adding he was in "emotional shock" and warned, "In this climate, someone could die." Doctors advised him to rest for a week, he said, but Casella added he intended to return to work immediately.
The incident drew swift condemnation from national and Jewish community leaders. Italy’s University Minister Anna Maria Bernini called Casella and said the ministry would consider legal action if similar assaults occur again, saying universities are "about inclusiveness, openness, democracy, and never violence." Noemi Di Segni, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, described the assault as an escalation and said it risked legitimising terrorism.
The attack at Pisa coincided with a separate classroom disruption the same day at the Polytechnic University of Turin, where demonstrators interrupted a lecture by a visiting Israeli scholar, according to university accounts. Protesters at Turin focused on opposition to facial recognition technology and surveillance.
The classroom confrontations come amid a wave of campus protests in Italy over the Israel-Gaza war and growing pressure on Italian universities to reassess ties with Israeli academic institutions. Milan’s Statale University approved a motion to halt new agreements with institutions "involved in the violations currently taking place" in Gaza, and the University of Florence passed a motion to evaluate and retain only those agreements it deems not complicit in what the motion described as the illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
University officials and national leaders reiterated that academic institutions should remain spaces for dialogue and study. Bernini said universities are not "free zones" to suspend lectures or assault professors and called the events at Pisa intolerable for a democratic society. The University of Pisa has not released a detailed public account of the incident beyond the statements relayed by Casella and the immediate condemnations.
The attacks have intensified debate in Italy over campus security and the limits of protest at academic events. Authorities have not reported arrests or outlined any criminal charges in the Pisa incident as of Wednesday morning. Police and university administrators said they were reviewing footage and witness accounts to determine the full sequence of events.
Casella and the student who intervened were the most seriously reported victims of the classroom confrontation; no further injuries were disclosed. The episode underscores growing tensions on Italian campuses as administrations, faculty and students navigate competing views on academic collaboration and political protest.