Thousands protest in Italy under heavy security

Security forces deployed massively in Italy on Saturday (Oct 24) for protests in which thousands rallied despite a sweeping crackdown in the wake of violent clashes last weekend.

Police said they arrested nine people and briefly detained 371 more, including 110 minors, who were taken to police stations in eight cities as clashes broke out at some protests.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government approved tough security measures this week and police had carried out dozens of searches and arrests in advance of the rallies.”

Marching is a right. We need to make our voices heard,” Alessio Scimone, a 24-year-old betting shop worker, one of the protesters in Milan, told AFP.

Several thousand people marched through Milan, bringing traffic in the centre to a standstill.A similar number rallied in Rome, where some protesters briefly broke into the Colosseum.

Police “managed to isolate and contain the violent fringes, with balance and professionalism,” Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was quoted by Italian news agency ANSA as saying.

“In Italy there can be no room for those who delude themselves that they can act with impunity,” he said.

In Milan, some stores closed early and others boarded their windows following outbreaks of looting in the fashion hub last weekend.Others remained defiantly open after a call by the city’s mayor Giuseppe Sala not to “panic”.

“We want to give the message that we are not scared by these kids,” said Alessandro Buhne, 30, who works at the Philipp Plein menswear shop.

“Tourists are scared of this situation so we want to give the signal that you are safe if you enter our store,” he said.Stefania Segalina, 55, a volunteer street fundraiser for the charity MSF, said she was relieved clashes had not broken out.