Overview

• Organizers claimed a turnout of one million while police estimated about 250,000 at the Rome demonstration from Porta San Paolo to Piazza San Giovanni.
• After the march concluded, masked antagonists split off near Via Labicana, with street battles reported around Santa Maria Maggiore and Via Merulana, fires set to cars and bins, and damage to shops and a police vehicle.
• Police reported 41 injured among security forces and used water cannon and tear gas; two people were arrested, 10 were detained, and 262 were identified for referral to judicial authorities.
• Prefect Lamberto Giannini said the unrest was confined to the end of the event in a limited area and emphasized that the right to protest for hundreds of thousands was protected, following earlier preventive checks that seized masks and poles.
• Political and symbolic flashpoints included anti-government chants, Hamas and Hezbollah flags, a banner referencing October 7, and the defacement of the John Paul II statue, as Meloni thanked police and Salvini denounced the violent fringe.