Overview
- The violence of 17–18 October in Milan and other cities escalated into looting and property damage and set off a week of intensified policing and legal action.
- Investigators have carried out more than 150 perquisitions across Milan, Monza and about 20 other cities and identified roughly 100 people searched, of whom 51 were minors.
- Milan’s security posture includes about 1,400 police, carabinieri and local officers plus roughly 500 paratroopers from the Folgore brigade who will patrol shopping areas in small teams and with armoured Lince vehicles.
- The grassroots group Movimento 17 ottobre adopted last‑minute, “liquid” online tactics that then faltered when scheduled 14:30 rendezvous were not posted, producing uneven turnout and isolated clashes while many shops boarded windows.
- Prosecutors are expanding probes—in some cases weighing terrorism aggravating factors for alleged coordinated attacks—which has deepened a political debate over the government’s tougher measures and raised risks of counter‑mobilisations or vigilante actions.