Mass protests erupt across Italy amid strike over wages and military spending

Thousands of students and workers took to the streets in more than 40 Italian cities on Friday, calling for higher wages, stronger public services, and an end to rising military expenditures. The grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base organized a 24-hour general strike, prompting coordinated protests across the country.

Most demonstrations remained peaceful, though clashes occurred in several locations. In Turin, police deployed a water cannon to disperse students and left-wing activists near the prefecture building. In Rome, a large march near the Colosseum was followed by attempts to set up tents for a weekend occupation, and police used water cannon to halt a crowd moving toward parliament, detaining eight people after they tried to breach barricades.

In Milan, protesters entered the city’s ring road before concluding their march at the Politecnico di Milano, carrying flares and igniting objects. Approximately 15,000 port workers, students and other demonstrators gathered at the port of Genoa, joining similar actions across Europe to protest the use of ports for arms shipments and to draw attention to seafarers’ deaths in conflicts from the Gulf to the Black Sea.

The protests are part of a broader wave of unrest sweeping France, Spain, Belgium, Albania and other European nations, driven by concerns over the cost of living and related socioeconomic issues.