by InTrieste
More than 200 people, about 80 percent of them minors, were detained in Milan on Sunday after a second day of looting and street violence in the city center, prompting Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to call a security meeting for Monday.
Groups of mostly hooded teenagers smashed shop windows, looted stores and damaged café terraces around Piazza del Duomo and Via Torino. Police used tear gas, water cannon and armored vehicles to disperse the crowds. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele was closed, and the cathedral shut early to visitors. Order was restored by late afternoon.
The violence followed protests on Friday over school conditions and demonstrations on Saturday against the rising cost of living in Milan, Turin and Bologna. Saturday’s march in Milan turned violent after police charged protesters in narrow streets, triggering clashes and widespread vandalism.
The unrest has intensified a political dispute over public security and the economic grievances behind the demonstrations. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi criticized what he called the tendency of left-wing commentators to justify violent protesters, while Senate President Ignazio La Russa rejected claims that the police lacked sufficient personnel.
Elly Schlein, leader of the center-left Democratic Party, condemned the violence but said it should not overshadow peaceful demonstrations. She also supported a proposed protest over the cost of living. Giuseppe Conte, leader of the Five Star Movement, likewise condemned the clashes while urging the government to address the economic pressures driving public discontent.
Riccardo Magi of the centrist party +Europa called on Piantedosi to report to Parliament.
The government’s security meeting this Monday at Palazzo Chigi addressed the unrest and the response of law enforcement authorities.
