Meloni deploys troops as Italy faces widespread strikes and port blockades

Thousands of people were getting ready to take to the streets of Rome, Milan and other Italian cities on Friday as part of nationwide demonstrations against the cost of living and high military spending.

After several weeks of violent protests in Italy and throughout Europe, more widespread disruption is expected after the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) and other trade unions called on both public and private sector workers to strike and protest.

In Rome, many waved communist flags, anti-Iran war signs and Palestinian flags. Some let off pink smoke bombs and their was a jovial mood among the demonstrators as they lined up before the march, as has often been the case early on at previous protests, only for violence to later break out.

Major demonstrations were also expected in other cities, while protesters are also expected to blockade ports in Genoa, Livorno, Trieste and elsewhere.

It comes after a number of protests in recent weeks have turned violent. Groups of masked protesters looted stores in Milan and elsewhere and threw projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons earlier this month.

Protesters also stormed Rome’s historic Colosseum on Saturday, while in the south, farmers and truckers have blockaded highways and ports to protest high fuel prices which have risen since the war in Iran.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has made law an order a key tenet of her administration, said she had “great respect” for peaceful protesters on X earlier this month.

But her right-wing government has since introduced tougher penalties for rioters including financial liability for parents whose children take part in vandalism and looting.

“There is nothing revolutionary about vandalizing and stealing. Vandalism and theft are not protest, they are criminality,” Meloni said on social media after unveiling the legislation.

The government also said it would deploy 500 army troops alongside the police in Milan until the end of 2026.

The demonstrations in Italy appear to have been partly inspired by those in France, where some of the worst rioting in decades erupted in cities across the country after student protests about the state of education in the country evolved into wider actions about the cost of living and social security.

Elsewhere in Europe, a huge encampment of tents has occupied a square in the Spanish capital since late last month, and thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Portuguese city of Lisbon. Tear gas and water cannons were also used on black-clad protesters in the Belgian capital of Brussels.