Italian Police Clash With Protesters in Central Milan
ROME — Italian police fired tear gas on Saturday, October 17, after coming under attack from protesters throwing stones and other objects in clashes in the square in front of Milan's Gothic cathedral, Italian media reported. Police in riot gear also tried to clear hooded protesters from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the luxury shopping arcade on one side of the cathedral square, as groups broke away from a protest over the high cost of living.
Shops pulled down their shutters and tourists fled the central area. The central Duomo (Cathedral) metro station was closed during the clashes, in which several people were reported injured and a number of arrests were made, according to the Italian media reports.
In Bologna, in northern Italy, police used water cannon to try to disperse crowds and made seven arrests after another protest turned violent, the ANSA news agency reported. The clashes had echoes of the violence in neighbouring France, where tens of thousands of people angered by rising costs and declining public services took to the streets the same day in some of the country's most violent protests in years. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 米兰大教堂。Milan Cathedral. Photo by Daniel Case, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
- 2026-10-17Anti-Cost-of-Living Protests Reach Italy: Clashes in Milan as Marches Fill 13 Cities
- 2026-10-18Italian Police Clash With Protesters in Central MilanThis story
- 2026-10-18Follow-Up: Italy's Cost-of-Living Protests Enter a Second Day as Clashes Renew in Milan; More Than 60 Taken In for Checks
- 2026-10-20Italy to Send 500 More Troops to Milan After Weekend Unrest: 271 Detained, Luxury Shops Board Up as Cabinet Weighs Security Package on Tuesday
- 2026-10-20Italy's Cabinet Approves Security Decree With Immediate Effect: Up to Five Years for Violent Participation in Protests in Groups of Five or More, Parents Liable for Minors, and 500 Troops in Milan Until Year-End
- 2026-10-24Follow-Up: Protests Sweep Italian Cities Again on Saturday: Clashes in Turin, Rome and Bologna, Milan Largely Peaceful
