Italy to deploy 500 troops to Milan after days of protests and looting

Government planning tougher security measures after protests over high cost of living descend into violence

Italy’s government is sending 500 soldiers to Milan as it vowed a “firm response from the state” after protests against the high cost of living descended into clashes with police, vandalism and looting, and ahead of further demonstrations planned on Saturday.

The government, led by the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is also planning to swiftly approve tougher new security measures, including extending preventive detention for minors, cracking down on youth gangs and banning gatherings for people deemed a threat to public order, according to reports in the Italian press on Tuesday.

Police in Milan detained 271 young people after hooded youths set bins ablaze, ransacked shops and smashed windows, including in the area surrounding the city’s Duomo, during the unrest on Saturday and Sunday.

Police used teargas and water cannons to disperse the violent groups, who were on the fringes of an initially peaceful protest.

Of those detained, 32 have been arrested, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals, police said on Monday. A further 28 people were reported to judicial authorities.

Ansa reported that one of the security measures being considered is specifically aimed at second-generation immigrant youths, known as “maranza” – a slang term used to describe gangs of young people, usually coming from marginalised areas.

Many luxury stores in Milan’s fashion district have stayed closed amid fears of further unrest. Brands including Chanel, Tiffany ‌and Dior had removed merchandise from ‌their windows as a precaution.

Other stores ransacked included sports retailers Decathlon and Arc’teryx and mobile phone operator Vodafone, television footage showed.

“The government will respond firmly to these attacks on the state, ​including through measures aimed at curbing violence by minors,” the foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said after Meloni chaired a meeting with top security officials on Monday.

Meloni’s coalition, which is facing a general election next year, is reportedly planning tougher penalties for road blockades too, following days of protests in southern Italy by lorry drivers over fuel prices.

Meanwhile, Milan is bracing for further protests on Saturday after a new movement, called 17 October, emerged on social media saying it would demonstrate there and in other major Italian cities each Saturday afternoon “until this government of thieves collapses”.

“You are the violent ones,” the group said. “You, who denied us a future. Now, we are claiming that future ourselves.”

Opposition politicians often accuse the government of using security as a propaganda tool, arguing that Italy’s leaders do little to address core issues such as education, housing and living conditions in marginalised areas.

There were also tensions during protests at the weekend over the high cost of living in other northern Italian cities, ​including Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo ​and Turin, where 28 protesters were arrested, police said.

The disturbances echoed unrest in neighbouring France, where hundreds of thousands of people angered by rising living costs and declining public services took to the streets on Saturday in some of the country’s most violent protests in years.