Politics

Italy and France deploy soldiers amid cost-of-living protests

500 troops head to Milan until year-end while Paris renews its curfew, Italian decree raises sentences for protest violence to five years

Images

Protesters clash with police in Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy. The unrest followed ​clashes on Saturday in other northern cities ​including Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo ​and Turin. Photograph: Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Protesters clash with police in Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Italy. The unrest followed ​clashes on Saturday in other northern cities ​including Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo ​and Turin. Photograph: Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Shutterstock
In Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, brands including Chanel, Tiffany ‌and Dior have removed merchandise from ‌their windows as a precaution. Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/Shutterstock In Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, brands including Chanel, Tiffany ‌and Dior have removed merchandise from ‌their windows as a precaution. Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/Shutterstock theguardian.com
The sports retailer Decathlon was among the stores ransacked in Milan during the protests. Photograph: Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto/Shutterstock The sports retailer Decathlon was among the stores ransacked in Milan during the protests. Photograph: Alessandro Bremec/NurPhoto/Shutterstock Shutterstock
El Gobierno de Italia destinó 500 militares a Milán para reforzar la seguridad tras los disturbios que dejaron casi 200 policías heridos. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor) El Gobierno de Italia destinó 500 militares a Milán para reforzar la seguridad tras los disturbios que dejaron casi 200 policías heridos. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor) infobae.com
El nuevo decreto aprobado en Italia castiga la participación violenta en protestas con penas de hasta cinco años de prisión. (REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo) El nuevo decreto aprobado en Italia castiga la participación violenta en protestas con penas de hasta cinco años de prisión. (REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo) infobae.com
Estados Unidos, China y Alemania emitieron alertas de viaje hacia Francia tras la ola de saqueos e incendios en diversas ciudades. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor) Estados Unidos, China y Alemania emitieron alertas de viaje hacia Francia tras la ola de saqueos e incendios en diversas ciudades. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor) infobae.com
El primer ministro francés Sébastien Lecornu prometió un despliegue masivo de seguridad tras admitir fallas en la contención de los disturbios previos. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor) El primer ministro francés Sébastien Lecornu prometió un despliegue masivo de seguridad tras admitir fallas en la contención de los disturbios previos. (REUTERS/Abdul Saboor) infobae.com
Las autoridades francesas aplicaron toques de queda parciales en París y restringieron la circulación nocturna de menores en Marsella. (REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo) Las autoridades francesas aplicaron toques de queda parciales en París y restringieron la circulación nocturna de menores en Marsella. (REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo) infobae.com

Italy's cabinet has authorized 500 soldiers for Milan, where Chanel, Tiffany and Dior have cleared the merchandise from their windows in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and police detained 271 young people over the weekend. France will put military units on the street for demonstrations called on Saturday, with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promising a "massive" police presence and an "immediate return to order." Three days after the town hall in Limoges burned, two European governments have chosen the army as their answer to protests that began over fuel prices.

The Milan detachment stays until December 31, reinforcing the "Safe Streets" operation that has kept roughly 5,000 soldiers at fixed points across Italy since 2008. Giorgia Meloni announced the reinforcement in a social media video, declaring that devastating and stealing "is not protest, it is criminality, and the response of the state must be firm." Her decree-law, in force immediately, creates the crime of violent participation in a demonstration, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of 20,000 euros, and holds parents responsible when the offender is a minor. A draft clause that would have let soldiers carry out arrests for three months was struck from the final text. Of 330 people detained or identified in Milan, half were of foreign origin, and the press agency Ansa reports that one measure under study targets second-generation immigrant youths known locally as "maranza."

France arrested nearly 2,400 people in one of its most violent recent bouts of unrest and has imposed curfews in Paris, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice. The renewed Paris curfew covers the Place de la République and the Les Halles shopping district from 11pm to 6am; police have banned carrying cans of petrol and forbidden masks and helmets in parts of the centre. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the military would be deployed on Saturday "mostly to free police and gendarmes in their mission to maintain order." Lecornu has acknowledged failures in the response to last weekend's riots. The United States, China and Germany have issued travel advice for their citizens.

Saturday's Italian demonstrations are called by the October 17 Movement, which demands mobilization "until the fall of the government"; in France the call comes from yellow vests and student unions, six months before the presidential election. The unrest has spread to Belgium and Albania. In Milan, 32 of those detained have been arrested, 23 of them minors, and the weekend's clashes left nearly 200 police officers injured and around one million euros in damage.

The youngest person identified in Milan was eleven years old. The soldiers stay until December 31.