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civil unrest in Italy
The 2026 Italian unrest is an ongoing series of protests, demonstrations, strikes, and clashes in Italy that began on 16 October 2026. The unrest has involved student movements and other protesters expressing discontent over the cost of living, rising fuel prices, education policies, and public spending.
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The 2026 Italian unrest is an ongoing series of protests, demonstrations, strikes, and clashes in Italy that began on 16 October 2026. The unrest has involved student movements, labor unions and other protesters expressing discontent over the rising costs of living and fuel prices, education policies and public fiscal spending of the Meloni government.
The unrest emerged amid concerns about the rising cost of living, higher fuel prices, and conditions within the education sector. Student movements criticized the policies of the government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling for increased investment in public education and opposing military spending.
On 16 October, student demonstrations associated with the slogan “No Meloni Day” took place in several Italian cities. The same slogan used during the 2025 Italian general strikes and protests for Gaza by some groups of protesters.
On 10 October 2026, pro-Palestinian activists and student groups demonstrated in Bologna, holding signs reading “Basta complicità con il genocidio” (“Enough complicity with genocide”), caricatures of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, and chanting "Intifada fino alla Vittoria" ("Intifada until victory"), alongside slogans calling for increased education funding and opposing military recruitment.
Italia in Piazza was among the main organisers of the 17 October protests, coordinating demonstrations through regional Telegram groups and promoting them on TikTok and Instagram. Following the unrest, the 17 October Movement emerged as a separate, self-described leaderless network, circulating protest guides, including one inspired by 2011 Egyptian revolution and the Arab Spring. On 24 October, police detained Youssef Siher, suspected of organising the movement. Other demonstrations involved student groups and school occupations, the transport blockade in Italy’s deep south, involving Fedralog in Calabria, the Sicilian Transport Committee (Comitato Trasporto Siciliano) in Sicilia and agricultural organizations including Granosalus and the Matera Agricultural Committee (Comitato Agricolo Materano) in Basilicata.
On 16 October, student demonstrations took place across Italy under the slogan “No Meloni Day”, a nationwide mobilization called on 12 October by the Opposizione Studentesca d’Alternativa (OSA). The protests focused on the condition of school buildings, education funding, military expenditure, immigration policies affecting schools, and solidarity with French students.
Demonstrations were reported in Rome, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Bologna, Florence, Venice, Padua, Treviso, Cagliari and other cities. The nationwide mobilization followed several days of school occupations and student-organized actions.
In Turin, demonstrators threw eggs at police and clashes were reported between some protesters and officers. In Rome, some demonstrators threw firecrackers near the Ministry of Education, while flags of the United States and Israel were burned during a march. In Pisa, students at the Scuola Normale Superiore disrupted an academic-year opening ceremony.
The demonstrations coincided with climate mobilizations involving Fridays for Future and with a school-sector strike. Police unions reported that officers had been injured during confrontations in Rome and Turin. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence while the government defended the police response.
At the same time, a separate wave of protests by truck drivers and farmers spread across southern Italy in response to rising diesel prices and production costs. In Calabria, the transport stoppage organized by Fedralog began, with approximately 15 protest sites established near major roads and transport hubs, including the port of Gioia Tauro and the area around Lamezia Terme airport. In Sicily, the Comitato Trasporto Siciliano began a five-day stoppage of freight transport services. In Puglia, agricultural and transport protests had already been underway for several days. In the province of Foggia, farmers, olive growers and truck drivers continued their demonstrations. A convoy of approximately 500 lorries travelled along the State road SS379 between Brindisi and Bari, while farmers and agricultural workers participated in demonstrations in Cerignola and other towns. Olive growers also protested in Corato. The stoppages caused traffic disruption and contributed to fuel shortages at service stations in parts of southern Italy. The government called for the restoration of normal goods distribution and sought discussions with transport representatives.
Accusations of media censorship were directed at Italian mass media amid criticism of the limited coverage given by national television news programmes to the ongoing protests in southern Italy. Critics argued that the demonstrations had received disproportionately little attention in mainstream television news, raising concerns about media impartiality and the visibility of public dissent.
On October 17, demonstrations organized by Italia in Piazza took place, addressing the cost of living and other social issues. Riots, looting and vandalism were reported during the protests in Milan and Bologna, as well as clashes between police and protesters.
In central Milan, a demonstration that had initially proceeded peacefully escalated after groups of masked protesters broke away from the march. Some threw stones and other objects at riot police, damaged shop windows and set fire to makeshift barricades. Police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators in the area around Piazza del Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Shops closed and the Duomo metro station was temporarily shut during the clashes.
In Bologna, police used water cannons to disperse demonstrators and arrested seven participants after a protest turned violent. Several people were also reported injured during incidents in Milan, with further arrests being made.
The unrest occurred alongside wider protests over rising living costs and deteriorating public services. The incidents intensified debate about the distinction between peaceful demonstrations and acts of violence.
Meanwhile, the protests by truck drivers and farmers continued in Southern Italy across Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata and Sicily. In Calabria, lorries remained stationed along the Statal route SS18 coastal road and at approximately 15 protest sites. Although the vehicles caused delays, reports indicated that the demonstrations did not consistently involve complete road closures. In Puglia, farmers, olive growers and transport workers maintained a protest site near the Poggio Imperiale motorway junction in the province of Foggia. Some participants discussed taking their demonstrations to Rome to draw the national government's attention to their demands. In Basilicata, agricultural groups, including the Comitato Agricolo Materano and the national association Granosalus, supported demonstrations concerning rising production costs, falling prices received by farmers and reductions in agricultural support payments. Tractors and lorries also remained mobilized near Scanzano Jonico. The agricultural protests still in southern Italy overlapped with the truckers' campaign against diesel prices, although the two movements had distinct demands. Agricultural organizations also announced further demonstrations for the following week, including planned actions in L'Aquila and Rome.
On 18 October, further clashes took place in Milan, following demonstrations held the previous day against rising living costs and inadequate public services.
Without any demonstration or gathering having been planned, several hundred hooded youths, who had organized themselves spontaneously through private and secret social media groups, broke shop windows and set rubbish bins on fire near Piazza del Duomo. Police in riot gear responded with tear gas and water cannons. More than 60 people were taken to police stations for further checks. The majority of those arrested, detained, or reported to the authorities are very young—many are minors, and they include both foreign nationals and second-generation Italians of foreign origin. A police report stated that 28 people had been arrested following the clashes on Saturday, 17 October, in Milan, Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo and Turin. These figures refer to the previous day's incidents, rather than arrests made exclusively on Sunday.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence and announced a government meeting for Monday, 19 October, to discuss the situation and possible responses. The clashes increased pressure on the government to address public-order concerns while the protests' underlying economic and social grievances remained a subject of public debate.
At the same time, the transport stoppages in the far south of Italy, in Sicily and Calabria remained in effect as part of the five-day action scheduled to end on 20 October. The protests continued to affect the movement of goods, while shortages of fuel and concerns about deliveries remained significant issues in parts of southern Italy. Farmers' and agricultural associations' grievances in southern Italy continued to centre on diesel prices, rising production costs and the gap between the prices received by producers and the costs of farming. However, available reports do not establish a separate nationwide agricultural strike specifically organized for 18 October. The documented agricultural actions were part of ongoing regional mobilizations.
On 19 October, the Italian government announced plans to send 500 military personnel to Milan following the weekend's unrest. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said the deployment would be part of a wider security package. Fearing further violence, shops in Milan's luxury shopping district closed early or boarded up their windows. Police said 271 people had been detained during Sunday's unrest, including 23 minors, and that 32 people had been arrested. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence, as the government considered further measures to address youth disorder.
On 19 October 2026, the 17 October Movement (Movimento 17 Ottobre) emerged publicly in Milan in the aftermath of the protests and clashes that had taken place over the preceding weekend. The newly formed, leaderless movement announced a campaign of permanent mobilization and struggle against the Italian government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling for continued demonstrations every Saturday in several Italian cities until the government's fall. Its announcement was circulated through Instagram, while a Telegram group was used to coordinate communication with supporters. The movement criticized the government and law enforcement, presenting itself as an expression of youth discontent and opposition to the political establishment.
17 October Movement announced its next meeting to be on 24 October 2026 in Milan, Bologna, Turin, Rome, Florence, Padua, Bari, and Genoa. Within its digital chat groups, the movement also circulated and recommended the anarchist text "Recipes for Chaos" (2004) and the self-produced operational guide "Safer in the Streets" (also known as "Revolution: Instructions for Use").
In Calabria, truck drivers and agricultural workers kept up their protests on 20 October over high fuel prices and the rising cost of living. In Vibo Valentia, shops stayed shut and market stalls sat empty as deliveries were disrupted, while residents joined peaceful demonstrations at the Sant'Onofrio crossroads.
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