Weekend looting and the city's response

Hooded young people attacked shops and looted storefronts in central Milan over the weekend of 17 and 18 October, striking several points of the city at short notice. Traders in via Torino have covered damaged windows with wooden panels, and soldiers now patrol among the crowds. After a meeting of the provincial committee for public order and security, Mayor Giuseppe Sala said control and repression must come first in this critical phase.

“I want to say without ambiguity that first of all, in this critical phase, control and repression of these phenomena come first.”

Sala said he was not opposed in any way to 500 soldiers arriving in the city, and that the paratroopers would play an active role because such scenes cannot be allowed to repeat every Saturday. He also voiced concern about Saturday 24 October, fearing that people resembling those on the square at the weekend would return together with anarchists. Investigators, according to Rai News, cannot say who stands behind the coordinated attacks.

Two minors identified

Carabinieri have identified two minors. The youngest, an 11-year-old Italian boy in the second year of middle school, was tracked down in the south-west of the city. He is reported to have entered a shop in the city centre on Sunday 18 October, and an Instagram video shows him leaving with several belts. The second, a 16-year-old boy, was located in Desio in Brianza and was seen on Saturday wearing a carabinieri cap. He faces allegations of devastation, looting, theft and insulting the armed forces, and videos of the disorder have spread widely on social media.

Shopkeepers set up an alert network

Traders in central Milan and the Quadrilatero district have decided to keep their shops open rather than close early. According to il Giornale, they have set up a chat through which members warn each other when small groups of troublemakers approach, giving them time to lower their shutters. Gabriel Meghnagi, vice president of ConfCommercio, argued against early closures.

“Closing early or altogether is useless, because whoever wants to loot or devastate shops simply changes the timing.”

Meghnagi also said that closing shops on Saturday would empty the city, which traders do not want. Il Giornale reports that Cartier deployed about twenty private security guards to protect its windows in Paris. Tgcom24 reports that minister Crosetto speaks of hybrid war, while Milan remains heavily guarded and some social media groups call for people to return to the square on the weekend of 24 and 25 October.

Investigators look for a hidden hand

Il Giornale reports that the investigative hypothesis centres on private micro-chats examined by the Postal Police, which appear linked to Russian secret services. The same outlet describes leaflets that urged people to stay away from universities and claimed rapes would take place during the chaos, and frames them as an effort to frighten rather than inform. The Italia in piazza account, il Giornale says, appeared on TikTok and Instagram on 4 October and was later renamed Movimento 17 ottobre, which promises demonstrations every Saturday. Rai News quotes the movement as saying it is not a label but a movement with no leaders. About 5,000 people were brought toward Milan's Duomo on 17 October, and il Giornale reports 271 people taken to police headquarters and 32 arrests over two days.

Taken to police headquarters271

Arrests32

Taken to police headquarters

271 people

Arrests

32 people

Data from the article text

What comes next

Sala's concern centres on Saturday 24 October, when the movement's weekly calls could bring people back to the square. Investigators are still examining the chats and the online origins of the calls, and it is not yet clear which leads will be confirmed. Shopkeepers, per il Giornale, plan to stay open and close suddenly only if danger appears.