220 Minors Detained as Italy Prepares for New Wave of Protests

Of the 271 people detained during last Sunday's clashes in Milan, 220 were under the age of 18. The high number of juvenile arrests has prompted the Italian government to deploy 500 soldiers to the city's streets in preparation for a new round of demonstrations scheduled for Saturday.

The upcoming protests were organized by the October 17 Movement, a group that formed recently and coordinates with student federations, trade unions, and antiwar coalitions. The movement stated on Instagram that it distrusts the current administration, describing it as authoritarian. Last week, protests in Milan turned into clashes and looting, which led to the current security buildup. Police conducted raids in several cities on Friday and carried out an additional 150 searches in Lombardy on Saturday morning.

Organizers have kept the specific locations of the new demonstrations secret until the last minute. They plan to announce three meeting points on social media on Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, police are questioning the administrator of the group's Instagram page. According to the Corriere della Sera, the suspect is a 30-year-old freelance journalist and researcher of Italian-Moroccan descent. He faces an investigation on suspicion of inciting crimes.

Lawyer Michele D'Agostino is representing two of the detained demonstrators, a 21-year-old and a 15-year-old. He stated that the teenager did not understand the full scope of the event and had only seen it on TikTok. The minor was not among those who looted but did not grasp the severity of the situation. Corriere della Sera reported that some participants joined the protest after being unexpectedly added to a Telegram group by others.

The public prosecutor has cited social media as a factor in misleading young people into what he called insurrectional acts. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio told Sky TG24 that Italy needs to expand the capacity of its youth detention facilities. In a separate economic measure, the government granted tax breaks and created a special fund for farmers and fishermen on Thursday. This follows roadblocks set up by truck drivers in southern Italy earlier in the week to protest rising fuel prices.

The October 17 Movement said on its Telegram channel that many participants intend to protest peacefully. One member, identified as E, warned against giving police an excuse to charge. Another member, identified as Q, argued that there is no distinction between violent and peaceful protesters. The government's response includes both the military deployment in Milan and the ongoing judicial investigations into the organizers of the latest wave of unrest.