Anti-Israel protesters rallied outside the Venice Film Festival’s main building on Wednesday, hours before the opening ceremony of this year’s star-packed festival.

Hand-drawn banners reading “Free Palestine” and “Stop the Genocide” were held up by some 20 individuals belonging to a regional left-wing Italian political collective, AFP reported.

The small protest was a prelude to a larger march slated to take place on Saturday at 5 p.m. local time, with hundreds of local organizations saying they will participate, according to Deadline Hollywood .

Protesters are expected to gather at the Santa Maria Elisabetta water bus stop on the Lido—the 6.8-mile-long barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, where the festival is taking place on its 82nd anniversary—before marching toward the annual

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