Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
MILAN – The wave of violence shaking the heart of Milan shows no sign of abating. Less than 24 hours after the serious clashes during the cost-of-living protest, the Lombard capital has once again descended into chaos due to outright acts of urban guerrilla warfare carried out by groups of very young, hooded individuals.
The provisional toll includes a chain of devastation, looted shops between piazza Duomo, via Torino and corso Garibaldi, and over 160 people taken to Police Headquarters, around 80% of whom are minors.
Chronicle of chaos: shattered windows, looting and tourists fleeing
The afternoon turned into a spreading sequence of disorders across the main streets of the center and the nightlife areas. Groups of 10–20 young people, mostly dressed in black with their faces covered, quickly organized to strike various targets:
- Attacks on shop windows and stores: Targeted businesses included Foot Locker and Champions on via Torino, Levi’s and Under Armour on via Orefici, as well as the shattered windows of La Rinascente in piazza Duomo and stones thrown at the McDonald’s in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Several establishments between largo La Foppa and corso Garibaldi in the Moscova area were also looted and damaged.
- Tension near La Scala: Acts of vandalism were also recorded just steps from Teatro alla Scala, which was protected by a heavy deployment of law enforcement a few hours before the start of the concert by the Filarmonica conducted by Chailly.
- City reaction and rescues: On via Piatti, some residents tried to disperse the young people by throwing buckets of water from their balconies, while the Fire Brigade had to intervene on via Armorari to free about a dozen tourists trapped inside a gallery where they had taken refuge to escape the unrest.
To contain the protesters, who used stones, barricades, scooters and firecrackers, mobile units of the Polizia di Stato and Carabinieri responded with charges, water cannons and tear gas, deploying helicopters for aerial monitoring and guarding the entrances to the city’s “good living room”.
Political clash and the Government’s response
The events have sparked an extremely tense political and institutional clash. Milan’s mayor, Giuseppe Sala, and the Interior Minister, Matteo Piantedosi, have exchanged mutual accusations over the management and the number of officers deployed on the ground.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has weighed in on the matter, expressing solidarity with the law enforcement agencies and immediately calling an emergency summit at Palazzo Chigi for tomorrow, dedicated to security and public order.
Harsh words came from Deputy Prime Minister and Lega leader Matteo Salvini: “I hope these images will once and for all remove from the political debate the issue of Ius Scholae or Ius Soli. These are 14- or 15-year-olds going around destroying for the fun of it: anyone identified in these squares must never be allowed to obtain Italian citizenship.” From the opposite side, PD secretary Elly Schlein strongly condemned the criminals responsible for the damage, while emphasizing that “violence must not become an excuse to cover up and criminalize those who protest peacefully.”
