500 soldiers deployed in Milan as eight Italian cities brace for another day of protests
Italy's government has sent hundreds of soldiers to Milan, the country's financial hub, ahead of anticipated unrest. Protests have been called in eight Italian cities on Saturday against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government and the rising cost of living, a week after demonstrations in Milan spiralled into clashes with police and looting.
The new round of protests was announced online. A newly formed group calling itself the October 17 Movement has been the main driver of the demonstrations, alongside student federations, grassroots trade unions and antiwar coalitions.
In a message on Instagram, the group said: 'Those who deny our future are truly violent.' It added that it distrusts the government because it sees it as authoritarian.
In response to last weekend's looting, the government announced a series of new security measures, including the deployment of 500 soldiers to Italy's financial hub, with security tightened across key areas of the city.
On Friday morning, police carried out inspections in several cities, the Italian news agency Adnkronos reported. Officers carried out another round of more than 150 inspections on Saturday morning in the northern region of Lombardy.
On its Telegram channel, however, the October 17 Movement said many of those planning to demonstrate wanted to voice their dissent peacefully. 'We must be peaceful. If we give the police an excuse, they will charge against us,' a participant identified as E said on Thursday.
Others have stressed that there is no distinction between those who engage in violence and peaceful protesters. 'It's just us,' said a member identified as Q — a remark that also lays bare the differing attitudes inside the movement.
Protesters decided to keep the location of the demonstration secret until the last minute. Three meeting points were expected to be announced on their social media accounts on Saturday afternoon.
Police, meanwhile, confirmed that they had located and were questioning the administrator of the group's Instagram page. According to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, he is a 30-year-old Italian-Moroccan freelance journalist and researcher, under investigation on suspicion of inciting crimes.
Most of those arrested at last Sunday's protests were very young. Of the 271 people arrested, 220 were under the age of 18. Some joined the protests after being unexpectedly added to a Telegram group, Corriere della Sera reported.
'They said that they would raise chaos and we could take a lot of goods,' one of them said. Lawyer Michele D'Agostino is defending two demonstrators, aged 21 and 15. He said the youngest did not even know the reasons behind the protest; he had seen it on TikTok and decided to check it out with a friend, was not among the looters, but did not realise the seriousness of what was happening.
The public prosecutor has blamed social media for misleading young people into taking part in what he described as insurrectional acts. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told Sky TG24 that there was a need to expand the capacity of youth detention facilities in response to the mass arrests of people under the age of 18.
Earlier this week, truck drivers set up roadblocks in several regions of southern Italy to protest soaring fuel prices, leaving many markets without supplies for days. On Thursday, the government sought to offer them relief by granting tax breaks and establishing a special fund for farmers and fishermen. Saturday's protests unfold against that wider backdrop of discontent.
