Italy is infected by the student protests in France

This Sunday, Milan once again experienced an afternoon of rage and fire. The police have responded with charges, tear gas and water cannons to the attacks of hundreds of young people concentrated around the Duomo square, surrounded by a strong security device with the intention of preventing incidents such as those that occurred on Saturday. The cathedral closed its doors when at six in the afternoon kids dressed in black and mobilized through social networks began to arrive in the area. Inside there were people at mass who had to evacuate the temple through a side door. The clashes have resulted in at least 160 arrests, most of them minors.

Groups of hooded young people have destroyed street furniture, trash cans and bicycles and attacked clothing stores and bars. They have also broken shop windows with sledgehammers and in some cases have looted the interior. In an attack by several individuals on a large surface, a security guard tried to stop the assailants with a broom handle, but was hit with a hammer. The attackers destroyed the premises, while tourists and passers-by fled and sought refuge in nearby premises. The security forces have deployed a riot unit in the area, where a “guerrilla war” situation was experienced, according to the local press.

The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has called a meeting tomorrow in order to address public order issues, following this weekend's clashes. Saturday night also degenerated into serious riots in Italian cities such as Milan, Turin, Bologna, Brescia and Bergamo, where some 11,000 young people in total mobilized, emulating what was happening in France. During the day there had been protest demonstrations without incident for education and against the cost of living, and one of 100,000 people in Rome called by the main Italian union, CGIL, which proclaimed a general strike for next November 20.

However, at the last minute, violent groups appeared and clashed with the police, in some cases very young people and minors. The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, said in alarm that he had not seen anything like it in ten years and regretted that the police presence was insufficient. The clashes on Saturday left around thirty people arrested throughout the country and more than 140 officers were injured. What has caused the most commotion have been the episodes of attacks and looting of stores. In Milan, in Piazza del Duomo and the Vittorio Emanuele gallery.

In Turin, the large Feltrinelli bookstore at Porta Nuova station was robbed. In Bologna, riots broke out next to the railway station, where groups of hooded men threw stones, bottles, smoke bombs and other objects, in addition to setting up barricades. The Police used water cannons and tear gas to prevent protesters from approaching the square. Seven people were arrested and the station closed for several hours as a preventive measure.

Quickly, as on other occasions, a political fight broke out. Although all parties condemned the violent acts, Meloni accused the left of justifying them. In any case, in the face of this unusual explosion of rage, all the media have highlighted that the violent people apparently had no political affiliation whatsoever.