They were supposed to be demonstrations against the high cost of living, fuel prices, and taxation. But they turned into guerrilla warfare: Milan was reduced to a battlefield with Piazza Duomo besieged by hundreds of very young people dressed in black who forced the police to fall back amid a barrage of firecrackers, barriers, and bottles, until they occupied the city's symbolic square. Clashes also occurred in Turin, Bologna, and Bergamo, here too with volleys of stones and firecrackers against the police, and here too with hooded youths.
The political reaction
The government's reaction was immediate: "Demonstrating is a right," said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, "but turning our cities upside down is not. I renew my request to the opposition: do not be ambiguous about this. Any reticence becomes a justification." She was echoed by the deputy prime ministers: "It is unacceptable," said Tajani, "that part of the center-left fans the flames in an attempt to compensate for its lack of ideas and proposals." Meanwhile, according to Matteo Salvini, in the square there were "social centers, *maranza*, and spoiled left-wing scum. Will there still be those who protect and defend them???" The first to speak on the opposite side was the mayor of the hardest-hit city, Giuseppe Sala: "The reasons for the protest were understandable. The violence against law enforcement and the severe damage to the city are unjustified. Politics can choose to exploit this in search of electoral consensus. Or to address this difficult historical moment with wisdom: I hope the latter is the choice." Stone-throwing, firecrackers, charges, water cannons, tear gas, and barricades left behind a corollary—still to be definitively tallied—of arrests, complaints, damage, and injuries.
Guerrilla warfare in Milan: 50 youths detained
In Milan alone, at least four officers and 20 demonstrators were injured, and over 50 youths were detained. Half of them are minors. According to the police, the hundreds of enraged kids—many of foreign origin but just as many fully Italian—arrived self-organized from the suburbs, the hinterland, and even other provinces. Without coordination and in small groups. What is certain is that they took over the main demonstration, organized by *Italia in piazza* to protest against the cost of living and high fuel prices, wreaking havoc in the city and forcing the police first to retreat while awaiting reinforcements, and then to surround Piazza Duomo with about twenty mobile unit vans and jeeps. Scenes of war. And still in the evening, a group surrounded a police car but was blocked and stopped.
Infiltration of violent individuals in Turin
In Turin, the march—which various citizen committees had announced days in advance as "apolitical and non-partisan"—quickly passed under the control of antagonistic collectives, social centers, and the Pro-Palestine galaxy, with the addition of numerous teenagers from the suburbs. The organizers' attempts to make them put away their flags and convince them not to march hooded were unsuccessful. One of them, Marco Liccione, a former organizer of No Pass protests during the pandemic, reported being surrounded and beaten by about fifteen infiltrators.
Clashes also in Bologna
In Bologna, the clashes concentrated around the station area, where a group of hooded kids broke away from the march and began throwing smoke bombs, glass bottles, barriers, and stones at law enforcement, who responded with water cannons and tear gas to disperse them. At the end of a day of guerrilla warfare, what remains are the wounded squares, smashed shop windows, uprooted café tables, and the image of the bonfire in Piazza Duomo. And the toll of the damage has yet to be finalized.
