Police use water cannon and tear gas as shops are looted in the city centre; around 50 detained, nearly half of them minors.

A demonstration against the rising cost of living turned violent in Milan on Saturday, with hundreds of masked youths clashing with police around Piazza del Duomo and looting shops nearby

Similar disorder broke out in Turin and Bologna, prompting a political row in Rome.

Clashes in Milan

The march, called “Italia in piazza”, drew around 5,000 people. Trouble began at about 16.30 in Via Broletto, where stones were thrown at police. Officers in riot gear made a charge to push the crowd back, and flares and firecrackers were set off.

Groups of mostly young people dressed in black then broke away and converged on Piazza del Duomo. They hurled barriers, paving stones and firebombs, forced police to retreat in several waves, and wrecked a carabinieri car. A bonfire was lit in the middle of the square, and the Duomo and San Babila metro stations were closed as a precaution.

Police reinforcements surrounded the square and cathedral and advanced with tear gas and water cannon. The unrest then moved along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II towards Piazza San Babila, where rioters built barricades from café furniture and set fire to panels in the street. Shops and bars shut, and tourists and shoppers sheltered in the Galleria.

Shops were looted along Corso Vittorio Emanuele II. In Galleria Passarella, the windows of a Foot Locker were smashed with clubs and the store emptied.

Reports puts injuries at 15 police officers and 25 protesters. About 50 people were detained, nearly half of them minors. The cost of the damage has not yet been calculated, though local media say it runs to hundreds of thousands of euro.

Police said the youths organised themselves in small groups without central coordination and took over the main protest.

Turin, Bologna and Bergamo

In Turin, a march organised by citizens’ committees as non-political was taken over by student and left-wing collectives. Stones were thrown and bins overturned in Via Po, barricades were improvised, and police responded with tear gas and a water cannon. The Feltrinelli bookshop inside Porta Nuova station was vandalised.

In Bologna, a group broke away from the march and attacked police outside the railway station with smoke bombs, bottles and stones. Officers used water cannon and tear gas, and seven people were detained. ANSA also reported clashes in Bergamo.

Why people took to the streets

The protests were organised online by a self-described non-partisan movement with no links to traditional trade unions.

Demonstrators cited the cost of living, high fuel prices, low wages and the tax burden. The unrest came as similar cost-of-living demonstrations turned violent in France.

Political reaction

Italy's right-wing prime minister Giorgia Meloni said demonstrating was a right but setting cities ablaze was not. She urged opposition parties to condemn the violence unambiguously, warning that any reticence amounts to justification.

Deputy prime minister and Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani criticised parts of the centre-left for “fanning the flames”, while ministers Francesco Lollobrigida (agriculture) and Anna Maria Bernini (universities)expressed solidarity with the police. Lega MEP Silvia Sardone renewed her party’s call for organisers of demonstrations to post a mandatory deposit to cover damage.

Milan's centre-left mayor Giuseppe Sala said the reasons for the protest were understandable but the violence was unjustifiable. He urged politicians not to exploit the moment for electoral gain. Bologna mayor Matteo Lepore, also centre-left, called the scenes outside the station unacceptable.

Elsewhere on Saturday, CGIL union leader Maurizio Landini told a large rally in Rome that the union would call a general strike on 20 November.

Image: video screenshot from Il Giorno