Italian prime minister calls emergency security meeting after Milan riots
Violent clashes during cost-of-living protests in Milan led to more than 200 arrests, prompting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to convene an emergency security meeting.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced an emergency security meeting on Monday following two days of violent unrest in Milan tied to protests over the rising cost of living. Over the weekend, more than 5,000 people gathered, and police used tear gas and water cannons after demonstrators threw paving stones, bins and chairs at officers.
"To demonstrate is a right. To lay our cities to waste is not," Meloni said on Saturday, adding that "hooligans" had exploited the protests to "sow chaos."
Milan's mayor, Giuseppe Sala, described the disturbances as a "new phenomenon" linked to an international context and noted smashed shop windows, looted stores and frightened citizens. He said similar incidents were being observed in other cities worldwide.
Authorities detained more than 200 individuals, 80% of whom were minors, according to the news agency Ansa. The prosecutor's office has sought prison sentences for five adults charged with looting, vandalism and resisting arrest. Similar clashes were reported in Turin, where detainees were found carrying cobblestones and hammers, and a train station in Bologna was temporarily closed as a precaution.
Meloni urged political opponents to condemn the rioting without ambiguity, stating that any hesitation could be seen as justification. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein responded that her party has always condemned violence and warned that the unrest should not be used to silence peaceful protesters struggling to make a living.