On the afternoon of Saturday 17 October, a demonstration was planned in Milan organized by the "Italia in Piazza" movement, active in the protests against the high price, which had circulated the news of the demonstration on social channels, TikTok in particular. The Police Headquarters was informed and the appointment was not considered worrying on the eve. However, the protest was quickly overshadowed by the action of groups of very young people who moved in a fragmented way, taking over the main demonstration and laying waste to the city center.
The clashes in Milan - ©Ansa
The situation degenerated shortly after the demonstration began, with bottles and objects being thrown at the police officers deployed on site in via Broletto. Then in Via Mazzini, in Milan, a constant and continuous throwing of stones and objects resumed with the police who responded by throwing tear gas. Some protesters also set fire to some dumpsters. In the late afternoon the violent guerrilla war began in the Duomo. The protesters took advantage of the size of the square to attack the police and quickly retreat. Sudden attacks, with throwing of stones and barriers and immediate escape. A chemical toilet was set on fire. The police also used a water cannon to disperse the boys.
The clashes in Milan - ©Ansa
Devastation also occurred between Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and San Babila: a group of protesters, many with their faces covered, targeted several shops, including Foot Locker, destroying the windows with blows of clubs and stones. A small crowd tried to enter the shop to steal the goods. A Carabinieri car was also destroyed. The Gazelle, battered by the blows and with its windshield and windows smashed, was isolated with barriers.
The clashes in Milan - ©Ansa
Stone throwing, fires, paper bombs, charges, water cannons, tear gas and barricades have left behind a wounded city center with the damage still to be assessed. The toll, in Milan alone, speaks of at least a dozen injured among the officers and around 20 among the demonstrators and over 60 young people arrested. Half of them are minors.
The clashes in Milan - ©Ansa
According to the police, the hundreds of young people arrived self-organising from the suburbs, the hinterland but also from other provinces. Without coordination and in small groups. Many minors, mostly second generation, look labeled as "maranza". Kids who, armed with scooters, rubbish bins and sticks, vented their anger mainly against the police. The surnames of those arrested are also Italian, testifying to a transversal anger. If for Expo, in 2015, the city was set on fire by organized groups with young foreigners in the most violent fringes, this time it is those who live in the city, between the center and the hinterland, who are destroying it.
The clashes in Milan
"Italia in Piazza" is a network of movements and activists that has worked, especially on social media, to bring thousands of young people to Italian squares. Yesterday's demonstration was promoted on October 4th when the account presented as a spontaneous expression of youth discontent appeared on Instagram. The contents were disseminated in collaboration with Erick Jara, Capoditaglia and Nuovi Italiani. The latter is the movement attributable to Jara himself, already a candidate on the Milano Libera civic list. But the thread also leads to the Italian Revolutionary Front, with which the network has shared initiatives.
In Turin the demonstration against the high price, which several citizens' committees had announced for days as "apolitical and non-partisan", quickly passed under the control of the antagonistic collectives and social centers, with the participation of many teenagers from the suburbs. The organizers' attempts to get them to set aside their flags and convince them not to march in hoods were unsuccessful. Some young people threw objects at the police protecting the entrance to the Porta Nuova train station, who responded with tear gas. However, a group managed to reach the Feltrinelli bookshop inside the station, overturning the books on the ground. Heavy throwing of bottles, sticks and cobblestones by demonstrators in Piazza Castello. Twelve people, 10 of whom were minors, were stopped by the police, found in possession of Molotov cocktails and firecrackers, cobblestones and glass-breaking hammers. Some of them are considered alleged perpetrators of damage. Unrest also occurred in via Po in clashes between protesters and the police, including throwing chairs taken from bars onto the street and fire hydrants set off by men in uniform.
The clashes in Turin
In Bologna the clashes were concentrated in the station area, where a group of hooded kids broke away from the procession and started throwing smoke bombs, glass bottles, barriers and stones at the police who responded with water cannons and tear gas to disperse them. There were 4 minors arrested, 7 reported and 40 identified. Ten officers from the mobile unit ended up in the emergency room and two Digos policemen were forced to seek medical treatment.
The clashes in Bologna
"Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities on fire is not", wrote the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, on social media. "I have great respect for the thousands of people who demonstrated peacefully, also taking part in the mobilization called by the CGIL which also saw the participation of the leaders of the left". On the other hand, however, he warns in the post, "we cannot ignore what has happened in other Italian squares. Hooligans who exploit the demonstrations to sow chaos, attack those who guarantee security and hold entire cities hostage. I renew my request to the opposition: let them not be ambiguous on this. Let them unambiguously condemn this violence and launch a clear appeal for every mobilization to be peaceful. In the face of such scenes, the refusal must be unanimous. Every reticence becomes justification. Silence is not acceptable."
This morning Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, on fear and without seeing it set on fire by gangs of thugs. We are with you."
"It is unacceptable - said Antonio Tajani - that part of the center-left is fanning the flames in an attempt to compensate for their lack of ideas and proposals". While for Matteo Salvini in the square there were "social centres, maranza and left-wing rottenness. Will there still be those who protect and defend them?". The leader of the League adds: "After the shameful scenes of urban guerrilla warfare of the last few days, already this week we will propose again in Parliament, after too many delays caused by others in the past, the League's proposal to introduce a financial guarantee for the organizers of demonstrations at risk, to cover any damage. Demonstrating is a right, wreaking havoc is not. Whoever breaks it pays".
The first to speak on the opposite side was the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala: "The reasons for the protest were understandable. The violence against the police and the serious damage to the city are unjustifiable. Politics can decide to exploit it, in search of electoral consensus. Or to face this difficult historical moment wisely: I hope this is the choice".
"We are faced with unacceptable scenes", stated the mayor of Bologna Matteo Lepore. "The devastation of public goods, damage and violence have no justification. I appeal to the kids: be the first to isolate those who use a demonstration as a pretext to vent their anger and devastate your city. Those who use violence first discredit the reasons of those who demonstrate. We are close to the police who are trying to contain the unrest and a demonstration which we do not know was authorised".
