After France, unrest grips Italy with clashes in Milan, Bologna and Turin

Cost-of-living protests turned into unrest in several Italian cities on Saturday. In Milan, barricades burned outside the Duomo, a store was looted and others were damaged, while clashes also broke out in Bologna and Turin.

Following France, the protest wave swept Italy on Saturday as demonstrations against the rising cost of living turned into clashes with police in Milan, Bologna and Turin. The harshest scenes unfolded in Milan, around its landmark Duomo cathedral.

In Milan, the “Italia in piazza” march against the cost of living and wars drew more than 5,000 people and began peacefully. But unauthorized groups joined the procession, and in the early afternoon police stopped it and split it near Via Broletto.

Milan: battles outside the cathedral

Young people, mostly dressed in black and carrying no symbols, pelted police with stones, firecrackers and barriers. Security forces used water cannon and tear gas and charged the crowds in Piazza del Duomo, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza San Babila and Via Mazzini. The Duomo metro station was closed.

Barricades made from bar tables were set on fire in front of the cathedral, and a construction site also burned.

In side streets, protesters carrying Italian flags and flares stood facing police lines.

Police moved in after about 100 young people caused disorder in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, home to luxury boutiques. A Foot Locker store was looted, and the Nike store on Corso Vittorio Emanuele and La Rinascente were damaged. A Carabinieri car was wrecked and looted, and bus shelters and windows of old buildings were damaged.

Piazza del Duomo in Milan (file photo)

At night, Piazza del Duomo looked like a battlefield: smoldering barricades, overturned barriers and stones scattered everywhere.

Bologna and Turin

In Bologna, clashes broke out near the train station; protesters threw stones, police used water cannon and tear gas, and dozens of rental bikes were knocked over. In Turin, young people attacked police guarding Porta Nuova station with stones and bottles, and police responded with tear gas.

Arrests and officials’ reaction

In Milan, about 50 demonstrators, many of them minors, were detained, according to the LaPresse news agency. The police union Coisp reported two officers injured and at least 40 people detained; several protesters and a female photographer were also hurt.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: “Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not.” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala acknowledged that the reasons for the protests were “understandable.”

The unrest in Italy coincided with mass protests in France, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets against the cost of living the same day. Earlier in the week, Italian students threw flares at the Education Ministry in Rome, and student protests continue in Albania.

After France, unrest grips Italy with clashes in Milan, Bologna and Turin