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Meloni condemns Milan riots as Europe’s protest wave spreads from France to Italy
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said protesting is a right but setting cities on fire is not, after a cost-of-living march in Milan turned into clashes, fires and looting around the Duomo.
Ally Daily Editorial DeskUpdated:
“Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Saturday after a march against the rising cost of living in Milan degenerated into street battles, fires and looting around the city’s cathedral, as the protest wave that has gripped France spread to Italy.
More than 5,000 people took part in the “Italia in piazza” march against the cost of living and wars, which began peacefully. Unauthorized groups joined in, and police halted and split the procession near Via Broletto in the early afternoon.
Fire outside the cathedral
Protesters built barricades from bar tables and set them alight in front of the Duomo, and a construction site was also set on fire, sending flames and smoke rising against the Gothic facade.
Mostly young people dressed in black, without flags or political symbols, pelted police with stones, firecrackers and metal barriers. Officers fired tear gas, used water cannon and charged the crowds across Piazza del Duomo, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza San Babila and Via Mazzini. The Duomo metro station was shut.
In nearby streets, groups waving Italian flags and lighting flares faced off with police lines.
Luxury arcade and stores hit
About 100 young people stormed into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the elegant arcade lined with luxury boutiques, prompting a police charge as shops pulled down their shutters. A Foot Locker store was smashed and looted, and the Nike store on Corso Vittorio Emanuele and La Rinascente department store were damaged. A Carabinieri car was wrecked and looted, and bus shelters and windows of historic buildings were damaged.
By nightfall, Piazza del Duomo was strewn with burning debris, toppled barriers and stones.
Arrests and injuries
About 50 demonstrators, many of them minors, were detained, the LaPresse news agency reported. The police union Coisp said two officers were injured and at least 40 protesters detained. Several protesters and a female photographer were also hurt.
Milan’s center-left mayor, Giuseppe Sala, said the reasons behind the protests were “understandable.”
Beyond Milan
Clashes also broke out near the train station in Bologna, where police used water cannon and tear gas against stone-throwing protesters and dozens of shared bikes were overturned. In Turin, young people threw stones and bottles at police guarding Porta Nuova station.
The violence in Italy unfolded on the same day as mass protests against the cost of living in France, where hundreds of thousands marched and riots broke out in several cities. Italian students had already thrown flares at the Education Ministry in Rome earlier in the week, while student protests continue in Albania and clashes were also reported in Brussels.
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