The Italian government has approved a sweeping package of security measures, including the immediate deployment of 500 troops to Milan and significantly tougher legal penalties, following a weekend of demonstrations over the cost of living that occasionally erupted into violence in the country’s northern cities.
During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, officials greenlit the deployment of military personnel to help reinforce security at key sites, step up surveillance of sensitive locations, and enhance overall monitoring, according to the Ministry of Defence. However, the cabinet stopped short of granting soldiers direct policing powers—a measure that had been anticipated before facing opposition from President Sergio Mattarella, as reported by Italian media.
The unrest swept through northern urban centers over the weekend, most notably in the financial capital of Milan. Groups of predominantly young people clashed with police, smashed windows, and looted shops. These demonstrations were fueled by widespread public anger over soaring fuel and energy prices, high residential rents, low wages, and deteriorating public services.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended the government’s response in a social media post following the cabinet session, writing that destroying and stealing is not protest, but crime, and that the state’s response must be firm.
Under the new legal measures, which take effect immediately, participating in a group of at least five people that endangers public safety during protests now carries a sentence of up to five years in prison alongside a maximum fine of €20,000, equivalent to approximately $22,460. These penalties increase further if participants conceal their faces or if injuries occur during the disturbances.
The legislation also establishes that authorities can order prompt financial compensation for any damage inflicted. In cases involving minors, parents will be held financially liable for acts of vandalism and looting committed by their children. Furthermore, police powers have been expanded to allow the detention of youths aged between 14 and 17 if there is evidence they pose a danger, even if they have not yet committed a specific crime—extending authorities’ reach beyond the previous limit, which applied solely to adults.
These domestic disturbances in northern Italy echoed major riots in neighboring France, where hundreds of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday in some of the most violent turmoil seen in that country in years.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Meloni’s administration is contending with a separate wave of civil unrest in southern Italy. Truck drivers, angered by soaring diesel prices and mounting living costs, have organized roadblocks that are actively disrupting regional supply chains. Participants in both the northern and southern demonstrations argue that surging prices are driving families into severe poverty—a mounting political concern for Meloni ahead of the scheduled 2027 national elections.
