Pro-Palestinian protesters clash with police before Italy-Israel World Cup qualifier

Italy's World Cup qualifier against Israel on Tuesday night was overshadowed by a large pro-Palestinian march in the northern Italian city of Udine, which was largely peaceful but ended in clashes between some of the protesters and police.

Italy won 3-0 in a match that was played four days after the ceasefire in Gaza took effect and the day after all 20 remaining living Israeli hostages were released and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel walked free as part of the agreement.

Football and security authorities had placed the match in the highest risk category due to the planned protests, which went ahead despite the ceasefire deal.

In the centre of Udine on Tuesday afternoon, at least 10,000 people attended a protest which was incident free for nearly three hours before arriving at its final stop.

At the end of the march, about 50 people — with their faces covered — started clashing with police, who used water cannons and tear gas to try and disperse them.

The protesters were reportedly trying to get past the police cordons to head toward the stadium, which is on the outskirts of Udine. They threw metal barriers and other objects at riot police, fired flares and set fire to garbage cans.

Two journalists were injured in the clashes, while some police officers were also hurt, according to Italian media reports.

Udine Mayor Alberto Felice De Toni, who had called for the game to be postponed, said the city "strongly condemns the violence that took place in the streets at the end of the demonstration".

The Israel team bus was escorted to the stadium by 13 police vehicles, including some from the special forces, and several motorbikes.

The sound of helicopters over the city had filled the air from early morning, with drones spotted in the sky and snipers also seen on the roof of the Israel team’s hotel.

There were no serious disruptions at the match, although stadium staff had to act quickly to prevent some fans from running onto the field carrying Palestinian flags.

Fewer than 10,000 tickets were sold for the qualifier at the 25,000-seat Stadio Friuli, and there appeared to be fewer people inside the stadium than at the demonstration.

"Today wasn’t easy for us," Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso said. "I want to thank the police who have done an incredible job in these days".

Italy also played Israel a year ago in Udine, which was chosen because of its location in northeast Italy, near the Slovenian border, and the ease of isolating the stadium, where roadblocks were set up all around.