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3h ago

Students and Workers Stage Nationwide Protests in Italy

Heavy police deployments sought to prevent a repeat of mid-October violence during a USB general strike that drew thousands.

Protesters wave Unione Sindacale di Base flags in Milan, northern Italy on October 30 during a demonstration as part of a nationwide day of strikes and protests.
Smoke flares and tyres are set on fire to block the main intersection between the port and the highway, blocking trucks exiting the port in Genoa, Italy, on October 30.
Students face Italian police officers in Turin on October 30 during a demonstration as part of a nationwide day of strikes and protests.
Demonstrators wave flags and shout slogans through megaphones during a nationwide general strike called by grassroots unions to protest rising living costs, low wages and military spending in Rome, Friday, Oct. 30.

Overview

  • The nationwide mobilization, which drew thousands on October 30, united weeks of student occupations and tent camps with a general strike called by the USB trade union.
  • Police increased patrols and made preventative detentions to avoid clashes after violent scenes in Milan on October 17-18, and only limited skirmishes were reported by midday on Friday.
  • Protesters demanded more funding for schools, protection of teaching budgets, affordable student housing and relief from rising living costs that students and families say have made daily life unaffordable.
  • The Meloni government responded by tightening public-gathering rules, easing detention rules for minors, approving a 175.2-million-euro aid package for truckers, farmers and fishermen and proposing youth measures in the draft 2027 budget such as a tentative 2,500-euro annual bonus for under-30 workers.
  • Observers link the unrest to fuel-price spikes and rising defence spending, and say the protests could pressure ministers to shift budget priorities or prompt further police-led containment measures that would shape how future demonstrations are policed.