Confrontations between looters and police took place in central Milan for the second consecutive day, with young people throwing bottles and shoplifting. Violence began on Saturday during a demonstration against the cost of living and low wages, and police used tear gas and water cannons.
© Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto via Getty Images
18/10/2026
by
Lusa
Swarmers and police came into confrontation today in the center of Milan, northern Italy, for the second consecutive day, with young people throwing bottles and stealing in the shops of the central quarter of the cathedral.
Violence began on Saturday, in the margins of a demonstration against the cost of living and low wages, among other demands, on a day marked by protests in various Italian cities such as Bologna and Turin.
In these two days of protests, Lombardy’s metropolitan police, Milan’s province, held about 70 people, says Ansa.
Today, police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse several groups in the cathedral square, the historic and touristic heart of the city.
Video footage shows young people, mostly men, throwing objects at police cars.
A supermarket on Via Torino, which leads to that square, was the target of looting, with trash cans turned and motorcycles and vandalized bicycles.
The mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala (center left), said he saw “mounts of departures, looted shops and frightened citizens”.
“What happened here is what we see in many cities of the world,” Ansa said today, showing herself “very concerned because it is a new phenomenon, which also has its origin in an international context and, therefore, it feeds itself”.
On Saturday afternoon, police fired tear gas and advanced against the participants of the demonstration, after the assembly of barricades, the launch of pyrotechnic devices and attacks on the police cordon by violent groups, the Italian media reported.
The Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, today scheduled a meeting on security for Monday in response to the wave of violence.
Meloni, whose coalition government between the right and the far right will have to face new elections in 2027, condemned on Saturday the agitators “who take advantage of the demonstrations to sow chaos, assault those who guarantee security and take whole cities hostage”.
“ Manifestation is a right. Burning our cities is not ", wrote, in a message on social networks.
“ I have great respect for the thousands of people who have manifested themselves peacefully today, including participating in the mobilization called by the CGIL, which also had the presence of leaders from the left. Whatever the ideas it expresses, participation is the basis of any healthy democracy,” Meloni said.
On Saturday, during a demonstration, the Secretary-General of the Italian Confederation of Labor (CGIL), Maurizio Landini, announced the call for a general strike on November 20, coinciding with the European student strike.