Italy sends 500 extra soldiers to Milan ahead of 24 October protests across Italy

Security build-up in Milan

Premier Giorgia Meloni has announced a set of measures, including 500 additional soldiers for Milan and tougher penalties for minors. Those troops will join the hundreds already stationed in the city and support about 5,000 police and other law enforcement personnel. Authorities are planning drone surveillance, checks at railway stations, rapid-response units and online monitoring for calls to violence. Mayor Giuseppe Sala has said he is worried about a repeat of the violence and has backed the extra deployment. On Saturday, 24 October, security will extend beyond the city centre, because officials fear protesters could move into neighbourhoods outside the heavily policed zones. Five Lince armoured vehicles are parked in front of the Palazzo Reale, and many shops in the centre have covered their windows with wooden panels.

The weekend of 17 and 18 October

Police say the violence and looting on the weekend of 17 and 18 October involved about 2,000 very young protesters, a large share of them second-generation Italians who had acquired citizenship, alongside foreign nationals. Over those two days, police arrested 45 people, 34 of them minors. Groups broke into shops on the streets around Duomo Square, mainly targeting trainers, sportswear and sporting goods. Milan's welfare councillor, Lamberto Bertolé of the centre-left Democratic Party, said the city needs more investigation into the backgrounds and motives of the young people who joined the looting.

“Many young people increasingly lack a sense of belonging and prospects for the future.”

Arrested45

Of whom minors34

Arrested

45 people

Of whom minors

34 people

Data from the article text

Limits of the troop deployment

Defence minister Guido Crosetto said in a social media post that the troops are missing equipment normally used in public-order work. Soldiers were only recently allowed to use plastic restraint ties, and only around train stations rather than across the city. They are not authorised to carry pepper spray or tasers. Valter Mazzetti, secretary general of the FSP police union, told The Associated Press that soldiers can offer immediate reinforcement but cannot fill police staffing gaps. He added that managing demonstrations requires specialised police training.

Protests planned across Italy and Europe

Demonstrations are also scheduled in France and in other European cities from Portugal to Albania. According to Euronews, the Mappa della rivolta website, which tracks protest activity, counts more than 30 mobilisations in Italy, ranging from marches and pickets to public rallies and strikes. A group calling itself the Movement of 17 October has called demonstrations for 13:00 GMT in eight Italian cities, with three marches converging in each city and meeting points revealed only half an hour beforehand. In Rome, about 1,500 officers will be deployed, with drones from the State Police Flight Department 1, Carabinieri aircraft and checks ranging from city markets to railway stations. In Milan, drones will monitor the marches, authorised demonstrations will take place away from the Duomo, and protests are banned in the Garibaldi and Porta Venezia districts. In Turin, activists from the antagonist movement linked to the former Askatasuna social centre are expected to march alongside members of the 17 October Movement and students.

Investigations and the new decree

Police announced on Friday, 23 October, that dozens of raids had targeted suspects in the looting and riots. ANSA reports more than 150 searches in Milan, Monza and 20 other cities, mostly in Lombardy, linked to the clashes of 17 and 18 October. Investigators found suspicious WhatsApp messages on the phone of a young man said to have taken part, and ANSA reports that one message reads 'Calm down, brothers, we are all together against the police'. The same messages reportedly referred to attacks on officers and plans to take their weapons. Searches of about 100 people, 51 of them minors, were carried out in Bari, Bergamo, Florence, Genoa and Verona after the 17 October disturbances. In the week of 19 October the government adopted a security decree that creates an offence of violent participation in a demonstration and fines parents for damage their children cause during protests.