Italy deployed soldiers to Milan as the nation expected fresh protests on Saturday, one week after looting and clashes with police. 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. While protests in France have claimed most of the international attention, Milan is among the many other European sites where protests are also scheduled on Saturday, from Portugal to Albania:
- Milan: The 500 soldiers deployed to Milan come in addition to hundreds already stationed there and will support about 5,000 police and other law enforcement personnel. Authorities are conducting drone surveillance and checks at railway stations and monitoring online for potential calls to violence. Rioters last weekend smashed their way into stores, with Milan police noting that the violence and looting involved about 2,000 very young protesters, a large number of whom were "naturalized, second-generation Italians," alongside foreign nationals. Over two days, police arrested 45 people, 34 of them minors.
- Rome: Security was also heightened in the nation's capital, where authorities locked down luxury shopping streets and stepped up controls around the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo ahead of planned demonstrations, including one by right-wing students. An anti-war march is scheduled to start in the early afternoon at the central Piazza della Repubblica, and there are concerns over possible infiltration by violent groups.
- Tirana: Protests are expected to continue in Albania's capital. For more than a week, protesters have hurled rocks, flares, firebombs, and fireworks at police who've used batons, water cannons, and tear gas in clashes in the city center. High school and university students are demanding lower tuition fees and greater state investment in education and protesting corruption in the education system.
- Madrid: Retirees and others are expected to protest in Spain's capital to demand that public pensions aren't meddled with. Spain 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. The September eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her rented apartment in Madrid triggered huge street protests in the capital and elsewhere.
- Lisbon: Taking their cue from Spaniards, protesters in Lisbon who've been gathering to demand affordable housing are expected to march across the city on Saturday. They've 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.
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