Unions say up to 1.5 million protest across Italy over living costs and school funding

Turnout and the unions' figures

On Friday, 30 October 2026, marches filled streets across Italy during a general strike called by the USB union. The union told AFP that between one and 1.5 million people took part nationwide, while a separate estimate put the number at close to one million. Authorities have not published an official count, so the range rests on the union's own figures. Other reports described tens of thousands gathering from 10:00 and marches held in more than fifty cities.

Who marched and why

Students, workers, teachers and pensioners joined truck drivers, taxi drivers and farmers, who have protested the surge in fuel prices in the weeks before the strike. Marches also included housing movements and pro-Palestinian groups. The demands include a return to wage indexation, which Italy abandoned in 1992, a VAT cut on essential goods, and measures against rising energy and rent prices. Some protesters also opposed the increase in defence spending.

Housing costs weigh heavily on students. One student interviewed by AFP said a single room in Rome can reach 1,200 euros a month. A banner in Milan read against expensive living, against war and against rearmament.

Transport, ports and the Milan route

Rail, public transport and air traffic were heavily disrupted across the country, despite a requisition order signed the day before by Transport Minister Matteo Salvini. Italian ports were also blocked as part of an international campaign against the arms trade, involving about a hundred port cities in twenty countries. In Milan, the march left the central station shortly before 10:30 and avoided the city centre and its shops, which had been damaged during the violence of 17 and 18 October. Clashes in Turin at the start of the mobilisation were minor.

Policing and the debate over preparation

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi placed the security forces on maximum alert. Paratroopers remain deployed in Milan until the end of the year, riot units were due to be mobilised in Turin, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples, and Turin banned balaclavas, helmets and smoke flares at demonstrations. A report in the Italian press said intelligence services had warned the interior ministry before the violence of 17 October, that calls to violence were circulating on social media among youth groups nicknamed 'Maranza', and that police numbers had reportedly not been increased that day. The protests put pressure on the government of Giorgia Meloni, which faces demands over wages, housing and school budgets, and the police preparation is now under debate.