Milan: following the destruction, police disperse violent protesters between the Duomo and Piazza San Babila: dozens arrested

Disturbances at demonstrations against the high cost of living also took place in Bologna and Turin.

How it all began

A heavy hail of stones was hurled in the early afternoon at the police in Via Broletto, in the centre of Milan, near Via San Tomaso, where the ‘Italia in piazza’ march – involving over five thousand demonstrators – had come to a standstill. Police in riot gear carried out a dispersal charge. The march split in two, and groups of young people headed towards Via Bossi. ATM bus shelters and the windows on the upper floors of some historic buildings were damaged. A number of firecrackers and fireworks were set off. There was also a great deal of confusion amongst the young people.

There was another face-to-face clash between demonstrators and police officers in Via Broletto, in central Milan, where the demonstration organised by ‘Italia in Piazza’ had been blocked. The police responded with two brief but more forceful charges than the previous one. In the ensuing stampede, several people were seen to have sustained injuries. Tables were overturned and a female photographer was slightly injured.

Law enforcement officers charged again in Via Broletto, Milan. Several young men who were swearing at the police were left lying on the ground, fortunately with only minor injuries. They all got back to their feet, though some were rather worse for wear. A plainclothes officer who had been injured on the head was jeered at by the crowd whilst he was being treated. The demonstrators threw firecrackers at the police from both sides, as the march had split in two. Some young people were stopped and their identities checked. The police pushed back the front of the march towards Piazza Cordusio.

There were further tense moments in central Milan, between Via San Prospero and Piazza Cordusio, where for around ten minutes the police were targeted by groups of young people dressed in black and with their faces covered. These were not ‘black bloc’ activists, but teenagers from the suburbs, who also waved the Albanian flag in support of the ongoing uprising in Tirana, where protesters have thrown Molotov cocktails at one of the two branches of the Central Bank of Albania, right in the city centre, and at the Supreme Court building.
The tension then shifted to Piazza Duomo, with police in riot gear at the centre and several small groups attacking them. Broken glass everywhere, construction sites overturned, tables on the ground, shards of glass, shoes. Young people, passers-by and tourists watched from under the arcades, stunned, their eyes reddened by the tear gas.

Tension remains high in Milan city centre where, following the dispersal of the ‘Italia in Piazza’ demonstration in Cordusio, around a hundred young people dressed in black are running riot in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where the police have charged the crowd. Tourists, trapped on either side, are filming the scene on their mobile phones. Shop assistants and customers are barricaded inside the luxury shops, which are closed with their shutters down. Firecrackers have also been set off.

Clashes also broke out outside Bologna station between young protesters and the police. In Piazza Medaglie d’Oro, water cannons and tear gas were used, and hooded youths hurled a barrage of stones and other objects. Dozens of Mobikes – the bike-sharing service – have been thrown to the ground. The air is acrid and the protest, which began in the square in front of the station, is spreading towards the surrounding avenues, with water cannons and tear gas being deployed towards the central Via Indipendenza.

There were also incidents in Turin following the protest march against the high cost of living: groups of very young demonstrators began throwing stones and bottles at the line of police officers stationed to protect the entrance to Porta Nuova railway station. The officers responded by firing tear gas, which dispersed the crowd of demonstrators.