Protests against war and the cost of living filled central squares in Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples and other Italian cities on Saturday. Police reported isolated clashes, and officers were treated for injuries after confrontations in Rome and Turin. Most of the marches ended without trouble.
The demonstrations were called by student groups and by Italia in Piazza, a movement that began occupying squares on 16 October. Many banners combined two complaints: the US-Israel war on Iran, and prices that organisers say have outrun wages for a decade.
A pincer from north and south
In the north, the core of the movement is students. Their demands are concrete: a higher minimum wage, rent caps in university cities, and restored funding for schools and transport. Weekend marches in Milan and Bologna earlier in the month ended in looting and arson, which pushed the government onto the defensive.
In the south, the anger comes from farmers and truck drivers. They have parked rigs across motorways and feeder roads to protest diesel prices, slowing freight between ports and inland depots. Hauliers say a single tank of fuel now costs more than some short-haul jobs pay, and distributors report rerouted loads and longer delivery windows. The blockades touch the parts of the supply chain that retail warehouses depend on most.
The government answers with policing
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has drawn a line between protest and damage. "Protesting is a right," she said in a social media post. "Setting our cities ablaze is not." Her cabinet has approved a security package that permits the deployment of troops at sensitive sites and speeds up penalties for people convicted of riot damage. Police unions have welcomed the extra legal cover but say staffing is still short in big city centres.
Prices are now the campaign
Opposition parties argue that a security response avoids the economic question. Italy imports most of its energy, so the oil price spike that followed the Iran war has fed straight into household bills, transport costs and food prices. Italy's next national election is due in 2027, and the cost of living is already the issue that opposition campaigns are built around.
For now, the pattern is a weekend of marches, a weekday of announcements, and another weekend of marches. The government's problem is that its new security powers calm the streets without lowering a single price on a shelf.
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