One week after looting and altercations with police, Italy sent troops to Milan as the country’s fashion and financial hub prepared for new demonstrations on Saturday.
Several steps were announced by Premier Giorgia Meloni, including the deployment of an extra 500 soldiers to Milan and harsher punishments for juveniles, who police claimed were a significant portion of the violent demonstrators.
Milan is one of many European towns, from Tirana in Albania to Madrid in Spain, that are seeing protests on Saturday, although the French protests have garnered the most worldwide attention.
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The demonstrations cover a wide range of topics, including housing, pensions, anti-war movements, corruption, and education.
Milan’s boarded-up luxury shops and army vehicles.
About 5,000 police and other law enforcement officers will be supported by the 500 troops who have been sent to Milan, adding to the hundreds already stationed there.
Drone surveillance, railroad station inspections, rapid-response units, and internet monitoring for any calls to violence are all being carried out by the authorities.
Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, has stated that he supports the deployment of additional troops and expressed fear about a recurrence of violence this weekend.
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Numerous shops in Milan’s fashion quarter, especially high-end boutiques such as Omega, Tiffany, and Gucci, covered their storefront windows with wooden boards.
The previous weekend, rioters had broken into stores along the streets branching off the central Duomo square, going after sneakers, sportswear, and sports equipment.
Authorities said Saturday’s security measures would reach beyond the city center, out of concern that demonstrators might shift to other districts to avoid heavily patrolled zones.
Valter Mazzetti, general secretary of the FSP police union, said that the army could offer quick extra support but would not fix the shortage of police officers.
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Defense Minister Guido Crosetto wrote on social media that the soldiers lacked important equipment normally used in public-order work.
He noted they had only recently been permitted to use plastic zip-tie restraints, and only near train stations rather than citywide, and that they are not cleared to carry pepper spray or tasers.
According to Milan police, roughly 2,000 very young people took part in last week’s violence and looting.
Many of them were described as “naturalized, second-generation Italians,” joined by foreign nationals. Across two days, officers detained 45 people, 34 of them minors.
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Lamberto Bertolé, Milan’s councilor for welfare, said that further investigation is needed to understand who the young participants were and what drove them to join the looting.
Bertolé, who belongs to the center-left Democratic Party, said that many young people feel a growing absence of belonging and a lack of prospects, and that part of society feels shut out because of social and economic inequality.
Rome shopping districts placed under lockdown
Rome also saw tighter security, with officials sealing off upscale shopping streets and increasing checks near the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo.
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A few hundred students held a peaceful demonstration to make clear that they were not rioters.
Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student association, said the scenes from the previous week were deeply upsetting, particularly for young people and students.
He said most of the younger generation want to study and put forward ideas and refuse to be represented by those who exploit causes and needs to wreck entire cities.
Separately, an anti-war march began in central Rome, amid fears that violent groups could infiltrate it.
Organizers tried to separate themselves from any possible violence, asking participants to keep their faces uncovered and their hands in plain sight.
Beyond Rome and Milan, protests have been scheduled in no fewer than seven additional cities. The recently formed “Oct. 17 Movement” has led the effort, joined by student federations, grassroots trade unions, and anti-war coalitions.
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Students and opposition rally in Albania.
In the capital, Tirana, riot police turned water cannons on large crowds of demonstrators, some of whom threw objects at officers. Authorities said 2,500 police were deployed on the streets Saturday.
For more than a week, protesters have thrown rocks, flares, firebombs, and fireworks at police, who have responded with batons and tear gas during clashes in the city center.
High school and university students are calling for cheaper tuition, more government spending on education, and an end to corruption within the education system.
Some have since joined a wider anti-government movement demanding that Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama step down.
Earlier, a separate opposition-led protest outside the prime minister’s office turned violent, with some activists setting fires in the street.
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On Saturday, Rama said his government was drafting a response to the students’ demands and invited them to talks. He cautioned that those who engage in violence will face penalties.
Pensioners rally in Madrid over retirement benefits.
Thousands of retirees and other demonstrators filled the streets of Spain’s capital on Saturday, calling on authorities not to tamper with public pensions.
Big crowds walked peacefully through central Madrid, carrying bright flags and signs with messages such as “protect pensions” and “decent pensions for today and the future.”
The demonstrations come just ahead of next month’s snap election, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party accusing the conservative opposition Popular Party of floating the idea of privatizing public pensions.
This autumn, Spain has also been shaken by protests over housing, as rent and property prices have climbed in recent years beyond what many Spaniards can afford.
Across Spanish cities, a lack of available housing has grown more severe, driven by population increases tied to immigration and the spread of short-term rentals. Massive street protests erupted after an 87-year-old woman was evicted from her rented Madrid apartment in September.
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The movement’s hub is a tent encampment that has occupied Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square for nearly a month.
Housing affordability drives protests in Lisbon.
Following the example set by Spaniards, demonstrators in Lisbon who have been rallying for affordable housing are expected to march through the city on Saturday.
They have also taken aim at new measures announced by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro’s government, including loosening the limit on annual rent hikes and making it easier to evict tenants who don’t pay.
Montenegro defends the changes, saying they are meant to strengthen trust between renters and landlords and give the rental market a boost.
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Protesters argue the measures are lopsided and leave tenants more exposed.
