What are Italy’s new measures against violent protests?

The right-wing government of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has approved a raft of security measures, including the deployment of 500 troops in the financial capital Milan, to curb youth-led protests that turned chaotic over the weekend.

“There is nothing revolutionary about vandalising and stealing. Vandalism and theft are not protest, they are criminality,” Meloni wrote on social media on Tuesday, unveiling the decree.

Unrest broke out on Saturday in Milan during a peaceful rally over rising living costs and poor school conditions inspired by similar mobilisations in neighbouring Spain and France.

Groups of mainly young people looted shops, smashed windows and clashed with the police again on Sunday, with riots also reported in Bologna and Turin.

Here’s what we know about the new measures.

What measures have been announced?

The Italian cabinet approved sending 500 troops to Milan until the end of the year to maintain security at key sites, step up surveillance of ‌sensitive locations, ⁠and enhance monitoring across the area, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It is unclear what the army will be able to do, given that the cabinet stopped short of granting soldiers additional policing powers following opposition from President Sergio Mattarella. In Italy, the army is responsible for national defence while police carry out investigations and arrest duties.

As part of the new legal measures, which take effect immediately, the government has also introduced a new offence of “violent participation in public demonstrations” targeting people gathering in groups of more than five who use potentially harmful objects including stones, sticks and fireworks.

The offence is punishable with up to five years in prison and a fine up to 20,000 euros ($22,440).

The text of the decree also cites the saying “You break it, you buy it” as grounds for making the parents of minors financially liable for the damage caused by their children. The state can claim damages for any resulting loss against parents’ properties or by deducting public subsidies received by the family.

Children and young people aged 14 to 18 will also be subject to administrative detention, even if they have not committed a crime, provided there is evidence they pose a danger, extending powers that previously applied only to adults.

Additional measures include longer prison sentences of up to 12 years for individuals who use social media or online tools to organise groups for violent public demonstrations.

Gregorio Sorgona, a historian at the University of Palermo, said the measures do not take into account growing discontent among young people, sparked by a “fundamental contradiction”: “On one hand, the ostentatiousness of wealth and richness as a model of success; on the other, a profound crisis marked by economic precariousness.”

“For the youth who live in poverty, the impossibility of accessing those symbols of wealth can spark violent behaviour and looting,” Sorgona told Al Jazeera. “Before tackling the effects, one should act on the causes, starting with growing social inequality.”

What happened over the weekend?

Hundreds of thousands of Europeans took to the streets in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium and Portugal on Saturday in largely uncoordinated demonstrations to protest against the rising cost of living in their countries.

In Milan, rioters clashed with police, looted stores and set property on fire in the city centre, emptying Piazza del Duomo and a luxury arcade that would usually be full of shoppers.

A march against wars and rising living costs began peacefully, but masked protesters threw stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police and set fire to barricades made from bar tables.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds. At least two police officers were injured, and about 50 demonstrators – many of them minors – were detained, the Italian LaPresse news agency reported.

In Bologna, police also reported that, alongside peaceful rallies, protesters threw stones and clashed with officers. In Turin, hooded protesters used bins and outdoor furniture to set up barricades, and threw firecrackers, sticks and stones at police.

What have the reactions to the new measures been?

Protesters say the measures fail to address the root cause of the violence, namely rising prices that are pushing families ⁠into poverty. A lack of affordable housing, rising household costs, and failing public services have led many young people to say they no longer expect to be better off than their parents.

Prices rose by about 2 percent a year on average, but jumped in 2022, when annual inflation hit 8.7 percent in Italy. The surge was driven mainly by energy costs, which soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Between 2000 and 2025, the cost of everyday necessities such as food, energy, transport and household bills has risen by 68 percent in Italy, while the average full-time wage has fallen by almost 5 percent.

Genoa Mayor Silvia Salis said: “Young people must be listened to, but in Milan and Turin we have seen violence with the sole aim of destruction.”

“The response, however, should be inclusion,” she said, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

NGOs including Associazione Antigone, which promotes human rights within the prison system, warned that arresting young people en masse will only add to pre-existing problems. More and longer prison sentences, it said, will worsen overcrowding. According to government data, the prison population in Italy has already increased by more than ⁠17 percent over four years.

The organisation said in a Facebook post that while roughly one child in seven (13.8 percent) lives in poverty, the government has not formed any policies to tackle this.

Sorgona said, therefore, that these latest measures are unlikely to prevent further protests and violence, as they failed to do in Genoa against G8 anti-globalisation demonstrators in 2001, when 300,000 protesters marched and police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

“Deterrence is not necessarily a valid tool to prevent the radicalisation of conflict, especially in a society that is swept by poverty and social segregation,” Sorgona said.

“The decree risks intensifying the protests and leading to the arrest of thousands of suspects on the basis of ill-defined legal grounds.”