A second day of clashes in the historic centre
Groups of young people confronted police around Piazza del Duomo in Milan on Sunday, the second consecutive day of disturbances in Italy's economic capital. According to Italian media, roughly 2,000 young people gathered in the city centre and moved toward the square, where the most serious incidents occurred. Many wore black clothing and covered their faces. Participants threw bottles, stones and firecrackers at police vehicles, erected barricades, overturned bins and damaged street furniture.[S1][S2][S3]
Officers deployed riot units and used tear gas and water cannon to break up the crowds. A supermarket on Via Torino, one of the main shopping streets leading into the square, was looted, and service bicycles and scooters were vandalised. Local outlets described the scenes as guerrilla-style clashes, though the city had largely returned to normal by late afternoon.[S1][S3]
Commercial damage spread along some of Milan's busiest retail corridors. Shops of Decathlon, Foot Locker, Under Armour, Levi's and Vodafone were hit, along with Carrefour supermarkets, bars and restaurants. Parts of the historic centre closed as a precaution, the Duomo suspended tourist entry and let worshippers leave through side exits, and several businesses in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shut their doors.[S2]
Detentions, a security meeting and a strike call
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said security forces detained more than 200 people during the operations, with authorities reporting that about 80% of those identified were minors. A police report counted 28 protesters arrested after Saturday's incidents in Milan, Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo and Turin, while on Sunday more than 60 people were taken to police stations for further checks, according to sources cited by Reuters.[S1][S2]
Investigators are looking at groups that coordinated through social media, with local media describing small mobile units that struck shops and dispersed quickly to avoid police checks. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced an extraordinary meeting on public order for Monday to review the state's response, saying the government would assess additional tools against those who use legitimate demonstrations to spread violence and chaos.[S1][S2][S3]
The CGIL, Italy's oldest and largest union, called a general strike for November 20, announced after protests spread across several northern cities over the weekend. During a rally in Rome, CGIL general secretary Maurizio Landini confirmed the date, which will coincide with a day of student protest.[S1][S2]
Mayor and premier condemn the violence
Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala described what he saw in the affected area, recounting broken shop windows, looted stores and frightened residents. He placed the Milan events within a pattern he said repeats outside Italy, arguing that what happened there mirrors scenes in many cities around the world, and voiced concern about a phenomenon he considers new, rooted partly in an international context that sustains itself.[S1][S3]
Sala condemned the attacks and asked for a larger police presence on the streets, a demand that reopened a dispute with Piantedosi, who defended the operation mounted by security forces. Meloni, whose right and far-right coalition government faces elections in 2027, wrote on X that protesting is a right while devastating cities is not, after earlier describing those responsible as thugs who exploit demonstrations to sow chaos, attack those guaranteeing security and hold entire cities hostage.[S1][S2][S3]
A protest wave stretching across Europe
The Italian unrest echoes, on a smaller scale, the violence and looting seen in Paris on Saturday, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets over rising prices and deteriorating public services. The wave has also reached Albania, Belgium, Portugal and Spain. In Tirana, demands for free university education and better scholarships, canteens and public transport escalated into calls for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign, with clashes near the education ministry and government headquarters, burning vehicles and tear gas.[S1][S3]
Tens of thousands marched in Lisbon against the housing crisis and rising land prices, denouncing a doubling of home prices that has made renting or buying harder for families and young people. In Spain, gatherings took place in Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and A Coruña over the right to decent housing and against property speculation, with organisers expecting legislative measures. About 200 people were detained in Belgium during Saturday's demonstrations against cuts to education, police and the federal government and against the rise of the far right, after marches that began peacefully in Brussels and Liège turned into confrontations with security forces.[S1]
