Milan Receives 500 Soldiers Ahead of Saturday Marches

Five hundred soldiers are stationed in Milan on Saturday as residents prepare for demonstrations against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's administration. The deployment follows a week of clashes and looting that resulted in the detention of 271 individuals, with 220 of them under the age of 18.

The October 17 Movement, a coalition of student groups, trade unions, and antiwar organizations, announced the new protests online. The group stated that it distrusted the government, which it described as authoritarian. Organizers kept the specific meeting locations secret until Saturday afternoon, planning to reveal three points via social media to coordinate the peaceful march.

Police conducted raids and searches in several cities on Friday to target suspects involved in the previous weekend's unrest. Officers carried out an additional 150 searches in the Lombardy region on Saturday morning. Authorities also located the administrator of the movement's Instagram page, a 30-year-old freelance journalist and researcher, who is now under investigation for inciting crimes.

Michele D'Agostino, a lawyer representing two demonstrators aged 21 and 15, noted that the younger client did not fully understand the protest's goals. He stated that the teenager saw the event on TikTok and joined a friend without grasping the seriousness of the situation. The public prosecutor attributed the mass arrests of minors to social media, which he said misled young people into insurrectional acts.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told Sky TG24 that Italy needs to expand the capacity of its youth detention facilities. This response addresses the large number of minors detained last Sunday, some of whom joined via Telegram groups expecting to gather goods. A participant identified as E urged for peaceful conduct, warning that violence would give police a reason to charge the crowd.

Truck drivers in southern Italy established roadblocks earlier in the week to protest high fuel prices. The blockages left markets without supplies for several days. The government responded on Thursday by granting tax breaks and creating a special fund for farmers and fishermen to ease the economic pressure.