Italy sends soldiers to Milan as minors fill protest detentions
Planned marches in eight cities follow a week of clashes, while police question an administrator of the protest group's Instagram page.
By Abigail Brooks ·
Demonstrations are planned for Saturday in eight Italian cities against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government and the rising cost of living. The government has ordered 500 soldiers to Milan, Italy's financial hub, a week after a protest there included clashes with police and looting. Organizers said they will keep the meeting points secret until Saturday afternoon, when three locations are expected to be posted on their social media accounts.
Police in recent days conducted raids targeting people suspected of looting and rioting. The news agency Adnkronos reported the Friday operations, and officers carried out another 150 raids on Saturday morning in Lombardy, the northern region that includes Milan.
Last Sunday's protest drew 271 detentions, and 220 of those held were under 18, according to Corriere della Sera. The daily reported that some minors joined after being added to a Telegram group without expecting it. One said members of the group "said that they would raise chaos and we could take a lot of goods."
Michele D'Agostino, a lawyer defending two demonstrators aged 21 and 15, said the younger client "didn't even know the reasons behind the protest; he had just seen it on TikTok and decided to check it out with a friend." He said the teenager was not among the looters but did not grasp what was happening. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told Sky TG24 that the country needed to "expand the capacity of our youth detention facilities" in response to the arrests of minors.
The public prosecutor has blamed social media for drawing young people into what he called "insurrectional acts." Police told Al Jazeera they had located and were questioning the administrator of the protest group's Instagram page. Corriere della Sera identified him as a 30-year-old Italian-Moroccan freelance journalist and researcher under investigation on suspicion of "inciting crimes."
Truck drivers set up roadblocks in several regions of southern Italy earlier this week to protest fuel prices, leaving some markets without supplies for days. On Thursday, the government granted tax breaks and created a special fund for farmers and fishermen. The October 17 Movement, working with student federations, grassroots trade unions and antiwar coalitions, announced Saturday's demonstrations online. "We distrust this government because we see it as authoritarian," the group said on Instagram.
