THOUSANDS of young people marched on Sunday through the streets of several Italian cities, including Milan, Rome and Turin, as authorities deployed large numbers of police and soldiers in a largely-successful bid to stave off a repeat of the violent clashes and looting that marred similar protests last week. The demonstration in Milan remained peaceful, but there were brief clashes with police in both Rome and Turin. In Milan, thousands of young people marched the streets as soldiers were deployed and luxury boutiques were boarded up, but by late afternoon, most shops had opened, Italian media reported. Premier Giorgia Meloni announced a raft of measures, including sending an additional 500 soldiers to Milan and tougher penalties for minors, who police said made up a large part of the violent protesters last week. In Milan, police detained several minors as a preventive measure, media reported. While protests in France have claimed most international attention, large demonstrations also rocked many European cities on Sunday from Milan to Rome to Madrid, Lisbon and Tirana. The protests encompass a broad range of issues from education and corruption to anti-war movements, pensions and housing. Almost 1,000 people have been arrested in France as another wave of protests took place in the country, with over 40,000 residents taking part in the demonstrations, a report has said. The majority of the protests took place peacefully. However, clashes erupted between protesters and police in several cities of France, including Marseilles, Rennes, Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux and Toulouse.

 

Police fired tear gas and charged crowds around Porte de Vincennes in Paris while some of the protesters launched fireworks towards security personnel, as per the report. Police deployed a water cannon to break up protesters and conducted checks of people travelling through the Nation Square. French authorities had planned a ramped-up operation after the chaos erupted in France last weekend, when protests against rising inflation resulted in people setting fire to many places and looters breaking into dozens of shops to strip them bare. French authorities had mobilised around 70,000 security personnel ahead of planned protests on Saturday. The Yellow Vests movement has said that another protest will be held on October 31, Euro News reported. In Milan, huge crowds of mostly young people gathered as night fell, chanting insults to Meloni and holding aloft banners such as “No to lies of the state”. A group of protesters dumped manure outside Italy’s energy regulator and burned a symbolic, oversized electricity bill, images broadcast on local television showed. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence in a social media post, stressing the need to protect both peaceful demonstrators and the wider public. Many stores, particularly luxury boutiques within Milan’s fashion district including Omega, Tiffany and Gucci, boarded up their front windows. The Apple store also shut down and remained shut even as others reopened.

 

Rioters last weekend smashed their way into stores, targeting sneakers, athletic wear and sporting goods on streets that run off the city’s central Duomo square. PROTESTERS TRY TO FORCE ENTRY INTO COLOSSEUM IN ROME: Security was also heightened in Rome, where authorities locked down luxury shopping streets and stepped up controls around the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo. A small number of protesters tried to force their way into the Colosseum, but were ushered out by guards. Elsewhere, several hundred students demonstrated peacefully to stress they were not rioters. In Albania’s capital Tirana, riot police used water cannons on large groups of protesters, some of whom set Government buildings on fire and threw projectiles at police. Authorities said 2,500 officers patrolled the streets on Saturday. For over a week, protesters have hurled rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks at police who have used batons and tear gas in clashes in the city centre. PENSIONS AND HOUSING SPARK MADRID AND LISBON PROTESTS: Thousands of retirees and others marched peacefully in Spain’s capital on Saturday to demand public pensions are not meddled with.

 

“They are threatening us with privatising pensions. It is just another thing they want to profit from,” said Maria Jose Benito, 68. The protests came ahead of next month’s snap election as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party criticised the conservative opposition Popular Party for making overtures about privatising public pensions. Spain also has been roiled by protests this fall around the issue of housing, as rental and home costs have risen in recent years beyond what many Spaniards can afford. Taking their cue from Spaniards, protesters in Lisbon demanding affordable housing marched across the city on Saturday. They have also targeted recent measures announced by the Government of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro that include easing the cap on yearly rent increases and facilitating the eviction of tenants who fail to pay rent. Montenegro defends the measures, saying that they aim at reinforcing trust between tenants and landlords and boosting the rentals market. Protesters claim that the measures are not balanced and put tenants in a more vulnerable position.