Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
MILAN – An “absolute nonchalance towards sudden destructive actions of rare violence” and a “marked criminal ability.” These are the words used by magistrates from the Milan Prosecutor’s Office to describe the devastating fury of the group of very young people who, over the last weekend, turned the streets of the Quadrilatero della moda and central squares of the city into a stage for urban guerrilla warfare and looting.
A heavy and provisional toll, recording damage exceeding one million euros from shattered shop windows, destroyed street furniture and stolen goods. Fear of new raids has forced the precautionary closure of historic luxury boutiques such as Hermès, Chanel and Pomellato.
Swarm of very young people: around fifty arrests, the vast majority under 18
The aspect that most alarms investigators and the judiciary is the age profile of those behind the disorders. Among the approximately fifty arrested, only 11 are adults (aged between 18 and 24); all the others are minors, some as young as 12 and 13.
These are swarms of young people coming both from the Milan hinterland and from neighboring provinces and cities in the North (Varese, Lecco, Novara, Turin). Among them are second- and third-generation immigrants or young Italians from heterogeneous social backgrounds but united by a total lack of reference points. Initially, they joined the authorized ‘Italia in piazza’ procession on Saturday and then organized into groups on Sunday, attacking law enforcement by hurling trash bins, tables, cobblestones and bottles, injuring several officers.
The ordinary Prosecutor’s Office and the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office are charging very serious offenses: devastation and looting (which carry penalties of 8 to 15 years) and aggravated resistance.
Sala’s inspection and political reactions
During the day, the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, visited the affected shops together with the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, describing the acts of vandalism as “unacceptable and unjustifiable” and expressing the feeling that “these moments of tension are not yet over.”
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini took a hard line (“Someone was looking for a death”), reiterating the need for a new legislative crackdown on urban violence. In the afternoon, there were moments of high tension, insults and shoving in piazza Duomo during a sit-in promoted by the center-right, where the banner “We will remigrate you all” was displayed in front of a group of young protesters.
Validation hearings and interrogations underway
While the Juvenile Prosecutor’s Office, led by Luca Villa, has submitted the first 11 requests for arrest validation to the preliminary investigations judge, with interrogations scheduled at Beccaria prison, at San Vittore prison, interrogations of the adults have begun before Judge Fabrizio Filice. The public prosecutors Giovanna Cavalleri and Aurora Stasi, coordinated by Prosecutor Marcello Viola, have requested pre-trial detention, emphasizing the total lack of self-control and the concrete risk of repeated offenses.
