A protester is hurling a bin at riot police near Milano Centrale train station during a violent demonstration on the sidelines of a nationwide strike organized by the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB Union) in Milan on September 22, 2025.
Piero Cruciatti / AFP
Officials say new rules should be introduced forcing protest organisers to pay for damage.
Following our initial report on Monday on an Italian trade union general strike, not for improved workers’ rights but—as the organisers put it—to demand a “break with the terrorist state of Israel,” pro-Gaza activists became violent and caused a large amount of damage across major cities.
Particular attention has been paid to action in Milan, where Italian daily Corriere della Serasaid cobblestones, slabs of marble, glass bottles, bicycles, vases and rocks were “raining down” from the sky. Dozens of police officers were injured while attempting to keep the chaos in check, and at least eight Palestine supporters were taken in for questioning.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said that those behind the damage were not “pacifists,” as they claim, but “criminals.”
He added that new rules should be introduced forcing protest organisers to pay for damage done under their watch, in particular by demanding a deposit from those responsible for marches and demonstrations:
In the event of damage, they will pay out of their own pocket.
Other Deputy PM Antonio Tajani earlier wrote that “it is not by means of violence, by attacking the forces of order, blocking highways, stations, and ports that one helps the Palestinian civilian population. Serious behaviors that also cause damage to the economy, with tourists fleeing.”
As well as inflicting damage across many of Italy’s major cities, some demonstrators also revealed the hate underpinning their platforms, in one case by setting fire to a banner showing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, shaking hands. Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party shared an image of this act on social media, writing:
They wonder where the hate is on the left. This is the answer. Shame.
Si chiedono dove sia l’odio a sinistra. Questa è la risposta.
More strikes are set to take place across Italian cities through this autumn.
Michael Curzon is a news writer for europeanconservative.com based in England’s Midlands. He is also Editor of Bournbrook Magazine, which he founded in 2019, and previously wrote for London’s Express Online. His Twitter handle is @MichaelCurzon_.
