Demonstrating Right, Setting Cities Ablaze Is Not, Meloni Says
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned violence after a march against wars and rising living costs escalated in Milan. Police used tear gas and water…
For governments across Europe, protests over living costs are colliding with concerns about public safety. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned violence in Milan after a march against wars and rising living costs escalated on Saturday, with demonstrators throwing objects at police and setting fires.
“Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not,” Meloni wrote on social media. The unrest centered on Milan’s historic city center, where police deployed tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds.
Protesters threw stones, paving blocks and other objects at officers, according to the source report. They also used bar tables to build makeshift barricades and set fires. Shops lowered their shutters, tourists fled the area and the central Duomo metro station closed.
At least two police officers were injured and about 50 demonstrators were detained, according to reports cited by The Associated Press. Those figures were the reported toll from the unrest.
Meloni condemns attacks on police
Meloni described the people involved as “hooligans” who exploited demonstrations to sow chaos. She also expressed solidarity with law enforcement officers, saying they had protected residents, workers, merchants and others in the city.
“Once again, the women and men of the Law Enforcement Forces have had to face the violence of criminals who, even through organized groups, exploit demonstrations to seek confrontation and sow chaos,” she stated on X.
Milan center-left Mayor Giuseppe Sala said the protesters’ grievances were understandable. But he said violence against law enforcement and damage to the city could not be justified.
A spokesperson for Sala referred Newsweek to earlier remarks in which the mayor said: “We will need to be even more prepared. I am just very concerned that these will be the first instances we see, but there will be more situations like this—again and again.”
The clash put a practical cost on the protest for people in the area: shops shut their entrances, public transport was disrupted at the central Duomo station and visitors left the center as police moved to clear crowds.
Demonstrating right, setting cities ablaze is not
The march took place in Piazza del Duomo, the square in front of Milan’s Gothic cathedral, and the nearby Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade. The demonstration focused on wars and rising living costs. Other recent protests have also raised concerns about wages, housing and public services.
Milan was not the only Italian city where police confronted demonstrators. In Bologna, police used water cannon during a separate demonstration and made seven arrests, according to Italian news agency ANSA. Demonstrations also took place in Rome and Turin.
The protests in Italy coincided with demonstrations in France over living costs, public services and education. Clashes were reported in Paris, Lyon and Marseille, where police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse some crowds. Separate cost-of-living demonstrations also took place in Belgium and Portugal.
The reports do not describe the demonstrations across Europe as a single coordinated movement. They do, however, identify affordability and public services as concerns shared across several countries.
In Milan, the immediate toll cited in reports was at least two injured police officers and about 50 demonstrators detained.
Source: yahoo.com
