Overview
- The protests against rising living costs on Saturday drew large marches in Rome, Milan, Turin and Bologna but in Milan small hooded groups turned the demonstration into sustained street fighting that occupied Piazza Duomo.
- Police used charges, tear gas and water cannon to clear groups that threw stones, fire‑crackers and improvised incendiaries while videos and eyewitness accounts show shops looted, windows smashed and street furniture set alight.
- Authorities gave provisional figures that about 50–60 people were detained, roughly half of them minors, and hospitals treated around 25 injured people with most wounds described as non‑life‑threatening.
- Senior politicians condemned the violence and leaders including Matteo Salvini have pushed to make organisers financially liable, with calls for a parliamentary proposal requiring guarantees to cover damages.
- Investigations and damage assessments are continuing and officials say they will identify individual perpetrators, while cities begin clean‑up and face the risk of legal, political and social fallout from the unrest.