Milan was hit by a second day of looting and clashes on Sunday, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called a meeting on public order for Monday.
Hundreds of youths, mostly dressed in black and some masked, gathered in Piazza del Duomo in small groups and threw stones and firecrackers, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. They then moved down Via Torino, smashed the windows of a Carrefour supermarket and came out with bottles of alcohol. Levi's and Under Armour stores near Piazza Cordusio and a Decathlon near Sforzesco Castle were also looted, according to ANSA and Il Sole 24 Ore.
Riot police used tear gas and water cannon. Il Sole 24 Ore said 160 people were stopped for identification, about 80% of them minors. Reuters, citing sources, said more than 60 were taken to the police station. Police sealed off the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the Duomo metro station was closed, and the cathedral shut early to tourists.
The violence has also sparked a row over police numbers. Mayor Beppe Sala said there weren't enough officers on Saturday. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi replied that this was "the usual natural and instinctive reflex of a certain radical-chic left" and that responsibility for violence "cannot be diluted in an argument about the number of police officers." On Sunday, Sala voiced "total condemnation" of "those who commit these criminal acts" and said his call for more police "has no polemical intent."
The unrest began on Saturday, when a march against the high cost of living ended in clashes at the Duomo. Meloni wrote then: "Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not."
Photo: Local Team via X
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