Italy’s government has chosen speed over debate. Less than three days after hooded youths smashed shop windows around Milan’s cathedral, Giorgia Meloni’s cabinet signed off on Tuesday evening on a package that sends 500 extra soldiers into the city through December and rewrites several rules on public order and youth crime.
The troops come with a limit. Drafts had foreseen giving them police powers, but the office of President Sergio Mattarella raised objections. In the final text the soldiers may spot and identify troublemakers, yet arresting anyone remains a job for the police and carabinieri.
The centrepiece is a criminal offence that did not exist before. Anyone who joins a group of at least five people at a march and starts hurling stones, firecrackers or sticks faces up to five years behind bars and a fine of as much as 20,000 euros, more if the face is hidden. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio added that using apps or social networks to gather such a group can bring four to twelve years.
Teenagers are a main target. Young people between 14 and 18 will now be presumed to understand their actions unless the opposite is shown, and preventive detention ahead of risky events can apply to them too. Meloni summed up the money side as “if you break it, you pay for it”: damage to bus shelters or police cars triggers a payment order from the prefect, and families of minors are expected to cover the cost.
Police had detained 271 young people during the weekend clashes, which began at a protest against living costs. Luxury boutiques in the fashion district stayed shut afterwards. A new online movement called 17 October wants to march again every Saturday, while opposition parties accuse the coalition, which faces an election next year, of reaching for security slogans instead of tackling housing and schooling.
