Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
MILAN / BOLOGNA / FLORENCE – The wave of violence and social unrest that hit central Milan at the weekend is spreading legal, political and public order fallout across Italy, as student and youth protests surge in several metropolitan centres with chain occupations and social alarms.
Precautionary phase in Milan: interrogations and 10 urban Daspo orders
On the Milan judicial front, preliminary investigations judge Maria Idria Gurgo of Castelmenardo today began guarantee interrogations for the other six adults arrested on Sunday. The Public Prosecutor’s Office (with public prosecutor Aurora Stasi and chief prosecutor Marcello Viola) confirmed the request for remand in custody, stressing the “lack of remorse and marked criminal ability” shown by the young people in joining the devastation. The judge’s decision is expected the day after tomorrow.
On the prevention front, Milan Police Headquarters has already issued 10 urban Daspo orders (Dacur) against young people detained with covered faces, knives or previous records, banning them from several areas of the city centre.
Piantedosi to attend Milan Security Committee. Sala: “We need listening, not just repression”
For tomorrow morning, Wednesday 21 October at 11am, Milan prefect Claudio Sgaraglia has urgently convened the provincial committee for public order and security. Interior minister Matteo Piantedosi will exceptionally attend the meeting.
On the table are preventive measures ahead of forthcoming marches and an assessment of damage to the productive sector. Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala confirmed his attendance, recalling that the response cannot be limited to police action: “As well as the material damage, I was struck by the fear among the young workers in the shops that were hit. Repression is necessary, but politics must wisely address the causes and roots of this youth unease without being soft.” Sala also announced that he would join the demonstration called tomorrow by the CGIL for social cohesion.
Lost earnings up to €5 million per Saturday. Anxiety spreads in universities
The alarm from business groups comes from Confesercenti: according to estimates by president Nico Gronchi, forced closures in the historic centres of cities such as Milan, Rome, Bologna, Florence and Genoa could cost up to €5 million for each Saturday of protest, exceeding €20 million if there is a month of continuous blockades. Confesercenti is urging the creation of a state emergency fund to compensate damaged traders.
Meanwhile, a veritable rumour-driven panic has broken out on social networks and in student chat groups: reports of alleged threats of violent raids and arson attacks on private Milan universities such as IULM and Bocconi have led many students to stay at home and registrars to tighten entry checks, although the police are assessing the actual credibility of these viral messages.
Wave of protest in schools: occupations in Bologna and Florence
While in Bologna a preliminary investigations judge has upheld the arrest of the 21-year-old student detained in Saturday’s clashes (granting bail conditions and excluding serious evidence of resisting officers) and the occupation of a branch of the Minghetti high school has been recorded, the protest has erupted massively in Florence.
In the Tuscan capital, students have announced the coordinated occupation of 12 schools (including Castelnuovo, Da Vinci, Machiavelli and Rodolico). In their protest manifesto, the students denounce the government’s cuts to education over the 2026–2028 three-year period, the structural decay of school buildings, barriers for people with disabilities and education policy measures.
