Italy's Meloni holds security meeting after two days of rioting and looting in Milan

Update, 7:14am GMT Tuesday: Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said the decree-law would allow the 500 extra soldiers being sent to Milan to act with police powers for a limited period of three months, Rai News reported. The cabinet meeting to examine the decree remains set for 5.30pm Rome time on Tuesday (3:30pm GMT Tuesday), Rai News reported. Il Tempo, which said it had seen the draft text, reported that it also provides for fines of €500 to €1,000 for parents of under-14s who commit serious offences with others, and for police to hold people judged to pose a concrete security risk for up to 12 hours. The final text had not been published as of 7:14am GMT.

Update, 11:07pm GMT Monday: The cabinet has been convened for 5.30pm on Tuesday Rome time (3:30pm GMT Tuesday) to examine a decree-law on public order, LaPresse and Il Messaggero reported. According to League under-secretaries Nicola Molteni and Andrea Ostellari, quoted by LaPresse, it is to include more troops for the “Safe Streets” (Strade Sicure) operation, a new offence of aggravated damage, mandatory arrest for “devastation” during demonstrations with the possibility of deferred arrest within 48 hours, and preventive detention of up to 24 hours. President Sergio Mattarella said “an intelligent and thorough analysis” was needed of violence that “seems to explode unexpectedly from new actors”, and expressed solidarity with the nearly 200 police officers injured in recent days, LaPresse reported (our translation). Five Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte said the government had announced more security measures but “zero” economic measures on rising prices, LaPresse reported.

Update, 9:07pm GMT Monday: After Monday’s meeting at Palazzo Chigi, government sources said “the State will provide a firm response”, with measures expected in a decree-law that the cabinet could consider as early as Tuesday, ANSA reported. Options under study include extending preventive arrest to minors and measures on road blockades, according to ANSA and Corriere della Sera. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini wrote on social media that 500 more troops would be sent “to defend Milan”, Reuters reported. Police said 271 young people were detained during Sunday’s unrest in Milan, of whom 32 were arrested, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals, and 28 more were reported to judicial authorities, Reuters reported; ANSA said 14 police officers had been injured. Many shops in central Milan, including luxury stores on Via Montenapoleone, closed or removed goods from their windows on Monday. Figures as of 9:07pm GMT.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni held a meeting with security chiefs at Palazzo Chigi in Rome on Monday after two days of rioting and looting in Milan on the fringes of protests over the cost of living, ANSA reported. No outcome had been announced as of 11am GMT.

Police detained more than 200 people in Milan, about 80% of them minors, ANSA reported. Groups of masked youths smashed shop windows and looted stores, including around the Duomo, and threw stones, bottles and flares at police, according to ANSA and The Guardian. At least four police officers and 20 demonstrators were injured in Milan on Saturday, DW reported. Clashes were also reported in Turin and Bologna.

In a post on X on Sunday, Meloni said police had faced “the violence of criminals who, also through organised groups, exploit demonstrations to seek confrontation and sow chaos” (our translation). She has promised “new tools” against those “who sow chaos”, ANSA reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s League has called for preventive detention measures to be extended to minors, according to ANSA. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala clashed after Sala said too few police had been deployed. Democratic Party leader Elly Schlein said her party had always condemned violence and that the government should not use the rioting “to drown out the voices of thousands of people who are protesting peacefully”.

The CGIL union has called a general strike for 20 November, DW reported. The unrest follows violent protests in France; see our latest report on France.