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Italy deployed soldiers to Milan as the nation\u2019s fashion and finance capital braced for fresh protests on Saturday, one week after\u00a0looting and clashes\u00a0with police.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
While\u00a0protests in France\u00a0have claimed most international attention, Milan is among the many other European cities, from Tirana in Albania to Madrid in Spain, that are rocked by protests Saturday.<\/p>\n
The protests encompass a broad range of issues from pensions and housing to anti-war movements, education and corruption.<\/p>\n
Army vehicles and boarded-up luxury stores in Milan<\/p>\n
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, checks at railway stations, rapid-response units and online monitoring for potential calls to violence. Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala has said he is concerned about a repeat of violence this weekend and expressed support for the deployment of more soldiers.<\/p>\n
Many stores, particularly luxury boutiques within Milan\u2019s fashion district including Omega, Tiffany and Gucci, boarded up their front windows with wooden planks.<\/p>\n
Rioters last weekend smashed their way into stores, targeting sneakers, athletic wear and sporting goods on streets that run off the city\u2019s central Duomo square.<\/p>\n
Officials said security measures on Saturday would extend beyond the city center amid concerns protesters could move into other neighborhoods to evade heavily policed areas.<\/p>\n
Valter Mazzetti, secretary-general of the Fsp police union, told The Associated Press that soldiers could provide immediate reinforcements but not resolve police staffing shortages.<\/p>\n
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a social media post that the troops lacked key tools available for public-order operations, and that soldiers were only recently allowed to use plastic restraint ties and only in areas around train stations, not throughout the city. They are not authorized to carry pepper spray or tasers, he said.<\/p>\n
Milan police say last week\u2019s violence and looting involved about 2,000 very young protesters, a large number of whom were \u201cnaturalized, second-generation Italians,\u201d alongside foreign nationals. Over two days, police arrested 45 people, including 34 minors.<\/p>\n
Milan\u2019s welfare councilor Lamberto Bertol\u00e9 told the AP that more investigation is needed to understand the backgrounds and motives of the young people who joined the looting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany young people increasingly lack a sense of belonging and prospects for the future. Part of our society feels excluded, amid social and economic inequalities,\u201d said Bertol\u00e9, a member of the center-left Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
Shopping streets locked down in Rome<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Several hundred students demonstrated peacefully to stress they were not rioters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the images from last week were truly something terrible, especially for the young people, for the students, for the vast majority of the younger generations who want to study, want to make proposals, and do not accept being represented by those who use issues and needs to devastate entire cities,\u201d said Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student association.<\/p>\n
A separate anti-war march took off in central Rome, and there are concerns over possible infiltration by violent groups.<\/p>\n
Organizers sought to distance themselves from potential unrest, urging participants to keep their faces uncovered and hands visible.<\/p>\n
Aside from Rome and Milan, demonstrations have been called in at least seven other cities. The newly formed \u201cOct. 17 Movement\u201d has been the main driver alongside student federations, grassroots trade unions, and anti-war coalitions.<\/p>\n
Students and opposition gather in Albania<\/p>\n
In Albania\u2019s capital Tirana, riot police used water cannons on large groups of protesters, some of whom threw projectiles at police. Authorities said 2,500 police officers are patrolling the streets Saturday.<\/p>\n
For over a week, protesters have\u00a0hurled rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks at police who have used batons and tear gas in clashes in the city center.<\/p>\n
High school and university students are demanding lower tuition fees, greater state investment in education and protesting corruption in the education system. Some have joined a\u00a0broader anti-government movement\u00a0calling for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.<\/p>\n
A separate protest organized by the opposition outside the prime minister\u2019s office turned violent earlier, with some activists lighting fires on the street.<\/p>\n
Rama said Saturday his government was preparing a response to the students\u2019 demands and called them to a dialogue. He warned that violent protesters will face penalties.<\/p>\n
Retirees march in Madrid over pensions<\/p>\n
Thousands of retirees and others marched in Spain\u2019s capital Saturday to demand public pensions aren\u2019t meddled with.<\/p>\n
Large crowds marched peacefully down streets in central Madrid, waving colorful flags and banners reading \u201cprotect pensions\u201d and \u201cdecent pensions for today and the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
The protests came ahead of\u00a0next month\u2019s snap election\u00a0as Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez\u2019s Socialist Party criticized the conservative opposition Popular Party for making overtures about privatizing public pensions.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In Spanish cities, a housing supply shortage has worsened thanks to population growth driven by immigration and a proliferation of short-term rentals. The September\u00a0eviction of an 87-year-old woman\u00a0from her rented apartment in Madrid triggered huge street protests.<\/p>\n
The movement is centered at a\u00a0tent camp protest\u00a0that has remained in the capital\u2019s Puerta del Sol square for almost a month.<\/p>\n
Affordable housing is main theme in Lisbon protests<\/p>\n
Taking their cue from Spaniards, protesters in Lisbon who have been gathering to demand affordable housing are expected to march across the city on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Montenegro defends the measures saying that it aims 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.<\/p>\n
#France #Protesters #marching #Europe #part #Oct #Movement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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