A lone Italian man armed with a baton single-handedly confronted multiple looters outside an Under Armour store in central Milan, as weekend protests over the cost of living descended into widespread smashing, looting and street violence across northern Italy, scenes that echoed the far larger chaos unfolding in France.
Viral footage circulating online shows the chaotic confrontation on Via Orefici, near Cordusio square. Hooded figures, some with faces covered, swarm the area amid shattered glass, scattered clothing hangers and debris. One man in a grey T-shirt, gripping a black baton, strides through the disorder, chasing and striking looters as others scatter or fall to the pavement. Nearby, people lie on the ground while goods are carried away from the sportswear retailer and the adjacent Levi’s store. Windows had been smashed earlier using the handlebar of a scooter, with groups of young men filmed entering and exiting with armfuls of merchandise.
Italian police later confirmed that hundreds of predominantly young people, many of them minors, had targeted stores including Under Armour, Levi’s, Decathlon, Carrefour, Arc’teryx and Vodafone. Officers in riot gear deployed tear gas, water cannon and armoured vehicles to disperse the crowds. The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele was sealed off and the Duomo cathedral closed early to tourists. On Sunday alone, authorities detained 271 people in Milan; of those taken to police stations, 32 were arrested, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals. Across the weekend, roughly 80 per cent of those stopped were under 18. Many were described by Italian media as second-generation youths of immigrant background, with no clear political affiliation beyond opportunistic violence.
The unrest began as demonstrations against rising living costs, poor public services and school conditions, organised under the banner “Italia in Piazza.” What started with larger marches quickly fragmented into groups of black-clad, hooded youths setting bins ablaze, overturning scooters and bicycles, smashing outdoor café tables and looting shops in the city’s main shopping districts around Piazza Duomo and Via Torino. Business groups estimated hundreds of thousands of euros in damage, with shops boarding up windows by Monday amid fears of further attacks.
Violence spreads across northern Italy
The disorder was not confined to Milan. On Saturday, similar clashes erupted in Turin, Bologna, Brescia and Bergamo. In Turin, protesters threw stones, overturned bins and vandalised a bookshop inside Porta Nuova station; police responded with tear gas and water cannon, and arrests included minors found with incendiary devices. In Bologna, a breakaway group attacked officers outside the railway station with smoke bombs, bottles and stones. Police used water cannon and tear gas, detaining several people, including minors, amid reports of a notable presence of very young participants of foreign origin. Nationwide on Saturday, 28 people were arrested.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence and convened an emergency security meeting at Palazzo Chigi. She noted individuals in Turin detained while carrying cobblestones and window-breaking hammers. Local authorities and the Milan mayor described smashed shopfronts, looted stores and frightened residents, with the mayor observing that such scenes were now visible “in many cities around the world.”
France reels from worst unrest in years
Across the border, France experienced even larger-scale disorder over the same weekend. Protests against fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, initially involving students, parents and teachers, were joined by masked groups that turned parts of Paris, Marseille, Lille, Bordeaux and other cities into scenes of arson, looting and clashes with police. Shops were ransacked for a second night running near Les Halles and Place de la République. In Limoges, the 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze and largely destroyed. Burnt-out cars, shattered glass and graffiti littered streets. Police made more than 2,000 arrests on Saturday alone, with over 600 officers injured and one protester dying of cardiac arrest. Hundreds of shops were damaged. French authorities described the scenes as a “war zone” and discussed partial curfews in several cities, while President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “unbridled violence.”
The simultaneous outbreaks in Italy and France have drawn comparisons on both sides of the Channel. In both countries, initially peaceful demonstrations over economic grievances were rapidly overtaken by organised or opportunistic groups engaging in systematic looting and attacks on property and police. Italian and French officials have pointed to young participants, many of them minors, with significant numbers from immigrant or second-generation backgrounds among those identified.
The Milan video of the baton-wielding man has been widely shared as an illustration of ordinary citizens intervening when order breaks down. While police eventually restored control in the Italian cities, the scale of the looting, the youth of many involved, and the parallel violence in France have intensified debate over public order, integration and the capacity of authorities to prevent such scenes from becoming routine across European cities. Meloni’s government has signalled a tougher response; shopkeepers in Milan’s luxury districts have already closed early and reinforced their premises.
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