Turin school occupations bring clashes, damage and 27 young people identified

Identifications and clashes in Turin

On 15 October police and carabinieri identified 27 young people in Turin during operations linked to student occupations. At a central institute, seven youths were identified as they tried to force their way in, some with their faces covered, and the sliding gate and several windows of the building were damaged. At a school in the northwest of the city, about a hundred young people tried to get in, but officers stopped them. Around twenty of them were identified outside the school and in nearby streets, and first information suggests they do not belong to that school. The operations follow damage recorded in the preceding days at several Turin institutes and reports of people with covered faces near schools.

1. Oct 14, 2026Attempt to occupy the Colombatto main building is blocked
2. Morning of 15 OctoberClashes at the Colombatto gates; police intervene and calm returns
3. Oct 15, 2026Police and carabinieri identify 27 young people in Turin
4. Oct 16, 2026National strike called by the Sisa union

At the Colombatto hotel institute, students for and against the occupation faced off in front of the gates, trading insults, shoves and firecrackers, with kicks and punches reportedly also thrown. Azione Studentesca, a youth group linked to Fratelli d'Italia, was among the opponents. A representative of the students opposing the occupation said a group, some with covered faces, tried again to enter the building, and that supporters threw firecrackers and used a fire extinguisher against them. Azione Studentesca said it kept the occupiers out of the main building, while some students reportedly got into the annex, where members of the left-wing student group Osa were present with movement flags. Police intervened and calm returned. An attempt to occupy the main building had already been blocked on 14 October.

Damage inside and outside the schools

Open reports that at least twenty high schools in Turin have been occupied, with professors injured while trying to stop one occupation and fire extinguishers set off in corridors. The same outlet puts the damage at thousands of euros. At the Peano technical institute, a hooded group broke in and destroyed teaching materials, computers and windows, and the school has been declared unusable, with a damage estimate still pending. Police later identified students aged 16 to 20 whom they consider promoters or co-promoters of the agitation there, and videos of the incidents spread widely on social networks. The Boselli and Peano schools were closed after the damage. At the Bosso-Monti institute on via Meucci, images from 15 October show broken glass on the pavement and a damaged window, and police were also called to the Sella institute on via Montecuccoli.

The principal of the Erasmo da Rotterdam institute in Nichelino, a suburb of Turin, described the pressure on her school. She told Corriere della Sera:

We feel under siege, and I think I can speak for many of my colleagues in Turin.

She said she had posted staff at the emergency exits and that, on 14 October, she cut a chain that locked the main gate with shears so that staff and students could enter. Firecrackers had also been thrown at the school.

What students are protesting

The collectives say they want to act "as in France", which they describe as more than words. Osa accuses the government led by Giorgia Meloni and education minister Giuseppe Valditara of cutting school funding while arms spending rises. Student groups also criticise the PCTO work-placement programmes, which they say bring schools closer to the interests of military and Israeli companies, and they call some schools barracks-schools. Protest themes listed in reporting include the decreto Scuola, funding for rearmament at the expense of education, and the right to housing. In Naples the school protests overlap with university students' protests over rents outside the Federico II, where tents have returned, and with opposition to a planned CPR in Castel Volturno.

Spread to other cities

In Naples about ten high schools are mobilised. In Rome the liceo Cavour and the Lattanzio and Levi Civita institutes were among the first occupied, followed by eight more. In Genoa students occupied the Gobetti and Calvino schools against education cuts. In Bologna the liceo Laura Bassi saw the first official occupation of the 2026-2027 school year. In Borgomanero, a protest outside the Leonardo da Vinci technical institute involved fires, overturned rubbish and an intervention by carabinieri and local police. It began after a circular from the school's female head on break rules, and outsiders joined the students. Counts for Turin differ: one report put the number of occupied schools at over ten, another at least twenty, and a later report at least twelve.

What comes next

The Sisa union has called a national strike for Friday, 16 October, which reports say could cause considerable disruption. Il Giornale expected the Friday demonstrations to be particularly heated, if not violent. On 15 October, Piedmont vice-president Maurizio Marrone (Fdi) announced a meeting with the students at Colombatto who oppose the occupation.