Protests and fringe violence expose sharp divide between marginalised and immigrant youth and those with greater prospects
M artina Miccichè was filming riot police kicking and beating a teenager with batons as they dragged him along Piazza del Duomo, the central Milan square hosting its cathedral, when she was struck by a flying object, causing a deep gash and bruising near her right eye.
The journalist had joined hundreds of mostly young people marching through the northern Italian city on Saturday afternoon to protest over soaring living costs and unaffordable housing, echoing the wider wave of economic discontent fuelling protests across Europe .
It wasn’t the first time Italy’s youth have loudly aired their grievances during Giorgia Meloni’s four years as prime minister, despite the risk of falling foul of her ruling coalition’s ever-expanding crackdown on security and public dissent. On Saturday afternoon they plan to protest again in Milan and other major Italian cities.
Miccichè said the atmosphere last Saturday was peaceful until about 5pm, when police blocked access to Via Broletto, a street about a 10-minute walk away from Piazza del Duomo.
“People were angry because they were being repressed,” she said, claiming the police turned “suddenly violent” as they pushed the crowd back with their shields. “The violence escalated. They started to grab people at random, hitting and kicking them. It was shocking.”
As the clashes continued and police filled the square with teargas while astonished tourists looked on, a group of masked youths on the fringes headed to the surrounding fashion district, tearing down road signs, setting bins alight and smashing shop windows – among them Footlocker and Levi’s – then looting them.
The vandalism resumed on Sunday as the gangs – many baited by the promise of luxury goods through a network of social media chats – descended on the city centre again, mostly from marginalised areas on the outskirts.
During the two days of unrest, police detained more than 271 young people. Of those, 32 were arrested, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals.
As the Italian media published images of injured police officers, Meloni’s government rapidly enacted more measures targeting minors and further empowering the police – including holding parents financially accountable for their children’s vandalism and looting – while dispatching 500 troops to Milan.
The latest legislation also criminalises violent participation in a demonstration and toughens penalties for rioters.
Some of the government’s security measures are now being applied in the south of Italy , where lorry drivers have been protesting against high petrol prices for more than a week, blocking roads and disrupting supermarket supplies. In response, 71 people have been reported to judicial authorities and 242 fined over the blockades – a protest act made illegal in a previous security bill. A government official also warned the lorry drivers that obstructing public highways could carry jail terms.
“This government just tries to repress protesters instead of listening to them and addressing the issues,” said Miccichè, who needed stitches for her injury. “It is all connected. There is anger in the south over fuel prices and young people everywhere are angry – they don’t even have a chance to think about the future because they are so terrified of the present.”
Furthermore, “we are not feeling safe”, the 34-year-old added, “because we can see how much space the police have now and how shielded they are”. Racial profiling had become the norm in Milan, especially in the centre and close to its train stations, she claimed.
The weekend’s urban unrest, including protests in Turin and Bologna, has intensified debate over Italy’s “lost generation”.
Furthermore, the youth protests and subsequent fringe violence have exposed the sharp divide between Italy’s marginalised and immigrant youth and those with greater prospects.
Working-class Italians or third- and second-generation immigrants are regularly labelled by rightwing politicians and the press as maranza , a derogatory term used to describe groups of young people who usually congregate in city centres.
They come from areas like Barona, a sprawling council estate in the south-west of Milan. Young people there have been reflecting on the events of last weekend. “There is a lot of discontent – we are all children of this widespread malaise,” said Domenico Ricci, who along with Luca Orlando manages a bar that is part of Barrio’s , a cultural hub where the district’s youth come together.
Orlando believes the vandalism and looting were a symptom of anger and years of feeling unheard and invisible. “So when an opportunity arises, these kids take revenge. They don’t do it simply because they want to steal something. All this government does is introduce new crimes – they never listen or engage in dialogue.”
Orlando, whose parents came from Calabria, is feeling the nationwide discontent. “But the protests there [in the south-west] have hardly had any coverage,” he said. “And we are only talking about Milan because of the violence and not the real issues.”
Thomas, 18, who has grown up in Barona, is training to be a chef and wants to leave Italy “as soon as possible”. He said: “I see no future here.” His friend Mohamed, an Italian citizen of Moroccan origin, is still at high school and wants to become a lawyer. “If you make a mistake, then you must pay,” he said. “But this is also a characteristic of protests – the more a government doesn’t listen, the more people get angry.”
Mauro Magatti, a sociologist at Milan’s Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, said socioeconomic discomfort and a sense of abandonment affected “an entire generation” and responding to the anger with excessive repression risked enlarging the protest. “Violence always needs to be condemned but now we need to lower the tone to overcome this burst of anger and violence and focus on addressing the real problems,” he said.
Police and military presence in central Milan has been building in recent days before Saturday’s protest, organised by a new online movement which has pledged to gather each weekend “until this government of thieves falls”. Security guards stood outside shops that had been damaged or looted last weekend.
Italy’s politicians from across the spectrum must take heed, warned Miccichè, as the protests were only set to amplify ahead of general elections next year. “There is no perception at all of how young people feel,” she said. “Even if they took just a minute to listen, they will understand that it is a generation full of ideas – they just want to be heard.”