Milan in the Aftermath of Civil Unrest

Milan (10-19) – Similar to the origins of the 2010 Arab Spring, sparked in Tunisia when a street vendor set himself on fire after repeated harassment by police, this latest social unrest across Europe began with a single act. Students fed up with numerous long-standing problems in their Paris high school began a strike and blockade on September 21 to see that changes would be made in the education system for all.

Their action resonated with their teachers who in joining them called for higher wages which in turn brought out workers and organized labor to demand the same, citing the high cost of living and the erosion of their incomes. All these issues hit a high note with others across France and then in the rest of Europe who were inspired by their example and began strikes and blockades calling for major reforms.

Daily student protests in France which started out peacefully soon became more confrontational as police used crowd control techniques against the students, their parents, teachers and union members who began attending protests to protect students from the police.

The great fear all along was that the protests and marches would soon draw extremists who would use them to advance their own agendas, as last weekend proved to be the case.

Over the weekend, many European cities were the scene of massive protests that began peacefully and soon became violent.

Milan suffered a great deal of unrest as radical elements and vandals began spreading violence across the city much of which centered on the fashionable central cathedral area where the pillaging and looting of stores and shops along with setting fires took place in the Piazza del Duomo in front of Milan’s famous cathedral. Violence escalated when extremists engaged with police who attempted to gain control using various means to restore order which in turn caused further escalation.

As they were disbursed by police, many headed for side streets creating wider damage by breaking windows and looting merchandise from a department store, athletic shoe and apparel stores, and attacking cellphone stores while randomly breaking windows and causing damage at shops, and restaurants.

On Sunday evening, police helicopters were flying overhead as sirens wailed in the background again for a second day of continued unrest. Italy’s central government has condemned the violence and promised to prosecute all those arrested. This, unfortunately, is not unlike Paris where even larger protests have been taking place with a great deal of violence.

On Monday morning as calm ensued, walking along the busy streets in the city center revealed several shops with broken windows along with evidence of looting that was still apparent. One broken shop window has a sign that said “Enjoy” ironically placed before the mayhem ensued.
Photographers and others recorded the damage from the weekend as several crews were busy boarding up, replacing and placing barricades around broken windows, while one crew was busy removing graffiti from the base of the Vittorio Emanuele II equestrian monument in the Piazza del Duomo. In remarkable short order, the city was being transformed as the vestiges of the unrest was being resigned to history until next time

It is anyone’s guess how this will all play out over coming weeks and months or when the next protest takes place. Unless the central governments work quickly to address the concerns of its citizens, this movement will only continue to grow. One reporter I happened upon who was seeking reaction from locals and tourists alike confessed that she hadn’t found a single person who was passionately angry about the protests.

Most likely they, too, are affected by the root causes of inflation, escalating high costs of living, the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Iran, and the genocide in Gaza.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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