Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to hold an emergency security meeting after protests over the rising cost of living broke out into violent clashes in Milan.
More than 5,000 people gathered over the weekend. Police deployed tear gas and water cannons after protesters, many of them masked, threw paving stones, bins, and chairs at officers. To demonstrate is a right, while laying cities to waste is not, Meloni remarked on Saturday, adding that hooligans had exploited the demonstrations to sow chaos.
Rioting and violence have erupted on the margins of mostly peaceful youth-led demonstrations in other European nations, including France, Spain, and Albania. Milanese Mayor Giuseppe Sala expressed concern that the unrest represents a new phenomenon originating from a broader international scenario that feeds upon itself.
Speaking to the Italian news agency Ansa, Sala stated that he witnessed smashed shop windows, looted stores, and frightened citizens, noting that what occurred in Milan mirrors incidents visible in many cities globally. Clashes began on Saturday and extended into Sunday, leading to the detention of over 200 people, roughly 80 percent of whom were minors, according to Ansa.
The city's prosecutor office has requested prison terms for five adults arrested on charges of looting, vandalism, and resisting arrest, as reported by the Italian news agency AGI. Local media indicated that numerous individuals, including police officers, sustained injuries, while violence between demonstrators and law enforcement also spread to other northern cities.
Meloni noted that individuals in Turin were apprehended while carrying cobblestones and window-breaking hammers, and a railway station in Bologna was temporarily closed as a precautionary measure following similar disturbances. The prime minister, who faces an election next year, also urged her political opponents to condemn the rioting unconditionally.
She emphasized on social media that there should be no ambiguity and that condemnation must be unanimous because hesitation serves as justification. Meanwhile, Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein stated that her political camp has consistently condemned violence and stressed that the rioting must not be exploited to suppress peaceful protesters nationwide who struggle to make a living, Ansa reported.
The violent unrest followed anti-government student demonstrations held across various Italian cities on Friday, echoing similar civil disorder in neighboring France, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets.