Tensions erupted and clashes erupted between protesters and police in Milan during and after the "Italia in Piazza" protest against the high cost of living.
The updates
9 PM – About fifty young people were taken to Milan police headquarters following today's clashes that devastated Piazza Duomo. Nearly half were minors.
Heavy toll – Two DIGOS officers, two other plainclothes officers, and a State Police officer were injured in today's clashes in Milan. Emergency medical services assisted approximately twenty people in the area of Piazza Duomo and Cordusio, half of whom were taken to the emergency room with code green and yellow. Two of the officers were struck in the head by porphyry cubes and required stitches. One of the two remained on duty despite being bleeding.
Meloni's condemnation – "Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities on fire is not. I reiterate my plea to the opposition: don't be ambiguous on this. They should unambiguously condemn this violence and make a clear appeal for every demonstration to be peaceful. Faced with scenes like this, rejection must be unanimous. Any reticence becomes justification. Silence is unacceptable." Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote this on social media, posting a video of the riots in Milan's Piazza Duomo and speaking of "thugs who are exploiting demonstrations to sow chaos, attack those who guarantee security, and hold entire cities hostage."
The news
7:30 PM – The clashes have turned into guerrilla warfare. Protesters set fires in Piazza Duomo and surrounding streets, burning dumpsters and other materials.
6:30 PM – Clashes erupt in Piazza del Duomo, where several hundred die-hard protesters from the Cordusio march split into small groups and gathered in front of the Cathedral. They pelted police, who fired tear gas and carried out small relief charges. The youths threw barriers, paving stones, and firebombs. Then, on three occasions, hundreds of them all together, they attacked the police line in the center of the square. The police retreated, and the protesters vandalized and looted a Carabinieri car, damaging armored vehicles. The violent youths held the square and the equestrian monument, setting up barricades.
In the afternoon – A heavy hail of stones began this afternoon in the direction of the police on Via Broletto, in central Milan, near Via San Tomaso, where the "Italy in the Square" march, attended by over five thousand protesters, had stalled. Police in riot gear conducted a relief charge. The march split in two, and groups of young people headed toward Via Bossi. ATM bus shelters and the first-floor windows of several historic buildings were damaged. Some firecrackers and fireworks were thrown. There was considerable confusion among the youths as well.
Tensions then escalated: there was another double face-to-face confrontation between protesters. Law enforcement responded with a second charge, brief but more decisive than the previous one. In the stampede, several people were seen injured. Tables were torn apart, and a photographer was slightly injured.
And the situation began to escalate: injured people lay on the ground, fortunately only slightly, and some young people were cursing the police. Everyone got up, some more battered. A plainclothes officer with a head wound was jeered at as he was being treated.
Protesters threw firecrackers at the police, who were attacked from both sides as the march was split in two and did not appear in large numbers. Some young people were arrested and identified.
(Unioneonline)