Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is set to hold an emergency security meeting on Monday after protests over the rising cost of living broke out into violent clashes in Milan.
More than 5,000 people gathered over the weekend. Police deployed tear gas and water cannons after protesters – many in masks – threw paving stones, bins and chairs at officers.
“To demonstrate is a right. To lay our cities to waste is not,” Meloni said on Saturday, adding that “hooligans” had exploited the protests to “sow chaos”.
Rioting and violence have broken out on the sidelines of mostly peaceful youth-led protests in other European countries including France, Spain and Albania.
Milanese Mayor Giuseppe Sala said he was worried it was a “new phenomenon” that “originates from an international scenario and therefore feeds itself”.
Speaking to Italian news agency Ansa, he said he witnessed “smashed shop windows, looted stores, and frightened citizens”, adding that “what happened here is what we are seeing in many cities around the world”.
Clashes began on Saturday and continued into Sunday in Milan. More than 200 people were detained, 80% of whom were minors, Ansa reported.
The city’s prosecutor’s office has requested prison sentences for five adults arrested for looting, vandalism and resisting arrest, according to Italian news agency AGI.
Italian media reported that people – including police officers – were injured.
Violence between protesters and police also rippled into other cities in the north.
Meloni said people in Turin were detained while “carrying cobblestones and window-breaking hammers”, while a train station in Bologna was closed as a precaution after similar disorder.
The prime minister – who is facing an election next year – also called on her political opponents to condemn the rioting.
“Do not be ambiguous about this,” she said on X, explaining that condemnation must be “unanimous” because “any hesitation becomes justification”.
Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein said her party had always condemned violence and that the rioting should not be used to stifle the voices of peaceful protesters across the country who are struggling to make a living, Ansa reported.
The violent disorder followed anti-government protests held by students in various Italian cities on Friday, and echoed similar unrest in neighbouring France, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets.
