Como police search about 30 young people over WhatsApp chats calling for looting on 24 October

Searches across the province

From late on Thursday 22 October, Digos officers have been carrying out searches on about thirty young people in the province of Como, most of them minors. Investigators believe the suspects helped spread messages on WhatsApp designed to organise looting in the city centre on Saturday 24 October. The suspects are aged between 14 and 24. Most are Italian, a few are second-generation, and only a small number are foreigners. The offence under investigation is incitement to commit looting (istigazione a delinquere finalizzata al saccheggio), and Fanpage adds that the case also covers incitement to destruction. The searches were still in progress when the reports were published.

Chats modelled on Milan

The chats appeared after looting and clashes in Milan on 17 and 18 October, Fanpage reports, and similar groups formed in other Lombard cities. One group, titled 'Sabato 24 ottobre rivolta a Como', reportedly gathered hundreds of members. Undercover Digos officers inside the groups picked up messages urging members to dress as good kids, change clothes and then throw stones. Other posts invited people to turn up dressed in black with balaclavas in their pockets.

Other messages spread claims of plans to attack foreigners, rob 'the rich', and target banks, museums and universities, including Bocconi, Iulm, Bicocca and Politecnico. Students were urged to stay at home. One message claimed a group of 400 people was planning to assault girls, a claim that circulated in the chats and has not been established. Il Giornale reports that investigators currently treat the scheme as a plan they suspect rather than one they have proven.

The investigation

The first suspects were three 16-year-olds, two boys and a girl from Como, who were searched on Tuesday 20 October. A baseball bat was seized from one of them. Como chief prosecutor Massimo Astori, who is coordinating with the Milan juvenile prosecutor's office, signed a broad investigative mandate for Digos. Officers are working with the Squadra Mobile and the carabinieri to establish how much each person was really involved in the chats. Fanpage reports that the creator of the main chat is one of the few adults involved, a detail the outlet presents as reported rather than confirmed.

Police response

Police presence has been reinforced at all railway stations in the province for Saturday, when Como hosts Sassuolo at 15:00 in Serie A and more visitors are expected in the city. The aim is to stop groups from gathering and to keep the messages from turning into violence. Il Giornale notes that the fear is the looting seen in Milan could find new copycats in Como.