Italy approves sweeping security package: 500 troops for Milan, five-year jail terms for violent protesters

Italy's government has approved a sweeping security package in response to protests, sending troops to Milan and creating tough new penalties for rioters. The cabinet on Tuesday approved deploying 500 troops to Milan, a new legal offence covering violent participation in a demonstration, tougher penalties for rioters, and financial liability for parents whose children take part in vandalism and looting.

Italy's Ministry of Defence said the military will help reinforce security at key sites, step up surveillance of sensitive locations and enhance monitoring. But the cabinet did not approve giving soldiers policing powers, as had been expected, after opposition from President Sergio Mattarella, Italian media reported.

Unrest swept northern Italian cities at the weekend, including the financial capital Milan, where groups of mainly young people looted shops, smashed windows and clashed with the police. The demonstrations were driven by anger over soaring fuel and energy prices, high rents, low wages and the state of public services.

The new legal measures take effect immediately. Anyone who takes part in a group of at least five people and endangers public safety during protests faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of €20,000 ($22,460). Penalties increase if faces are concealed or people are injured.

Authorities can also order prompt compensation for any damage inflicted. In the case of minors, their parents can be held liable — putting direct pressure on families to keep teenagers away from vandalism and looting.

Another significant change concerns the detention of young people. Police will now be allowed to detain youths aged between 14 and 17, even if they have not committed a crime, provided there is evidence they pose a danger. Those powers previously applied only to adults.

'Destroying and stealing is not protest, it is crime, and the state's response must be firm,' Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a social media post after the cabinet meeting, setting out her government's hard line.

Alongside the unrest in the north, Meloni's government is facing mounting pressure from a separate wave of protests in southern Italy, where truck drivers angered by soaring diesel prices and the rising cost of living have staged roadblocks that are disrupting supply chains. The government is thus confronting discontent at both ends of the country at once.

Protesters in both the north and the south say rising prices are pushing families into poverty. The disturbances in northern Italy echoed riots in neighbouring France, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday in some of the country's most violent turmoil in years.

Politically, the issue is sensitive for Meloni: anger over the cost of living could become a major concern for her government ahead of the 2027 national elections. The tough security package is widely seen as part of the response — an attempt to restore public confidence by taking a firm line on law and order.

What remains to be seen is how far the new measures calm the streets. Alongside troop deployments and tougher penalties, attention will now turn to what the government does about the underlying grievances — fuel prices, rents and wages — that brought people out in the first place.