Italy: soldiers patrol Milan as authorities brace for more unrest
Italy's government sent an additional 500 soldiers to Milan on Saturday, joining about 5,000 police and other law enforcement already deployed. The move came after lootig and clashes one week earlier in which rioters smashed into stores selling sneakers, athletic wear and sporting goods near the city's central Duomo square.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala said he was concerned about a repeat of violence and supported the troop deployment. Many luxury boutiques in the fashion district, including Omega, Tiffany and Gucci, boarded up their front windows.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in a social media post that the troops lacked key tools for public-order operations, such as pepper spray and teasers, and could only use plastic restraint ties in areas around train stations.
Valter Mazzetti, secretary-general of the Fsp police union, told The Associated Press that soldiers could provide immediate reinforcements but did not resolve police staffing shortages.
Police said last week's lootig involved about 2,000 very young protesters, a large number of whom were 'naturalized, second-generation Italians', alongside foreign nationals. Officers arrested 45 people over two days, including 34 minors.
Milan's welfare councilor Lamberto Bertolé said more investigation is needed to understand the backgrounds and motives of the young people who joined the lootig. 'Many young people increasingly lack a sense of belonging and prospects for the future. Part of our society feels excluded, amid social and economic inequalities,' said Bertolé, a member of the center-left Democratic Party.
Rome: students seek to distance themselves from violence
Security was heightened in Rome, where authorities locked down luxury shopping streets and stepped up controls around the Circus Maximus and Piaza del Popolo. Several hundred students demonstrated peacefully to stress they were not rioters.
Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student association, said: 'I think the images from last week were truly something terrible, especially for the young people, for the students, for the vast majority of the younger generations who want to study, want to make proposals, and do not accept being represented by those who use issues and needs to devastate entire cities.'
A separate anti-war march took off in central Rome, with concerns over possible infiltration by violente groups. Organizers urged participants to keep their faces uncovered and hands visible. Demonstrations were called in at least seven other Italian cities.
Tirana: water cannon and tear gas as students protest
In Albania's capital, riot police used water cannon on large groups of protesters, some of whom threw projectiles. Authorities said 2,500 police officers were patrolling the streets Saturday. For over a week, protesters have hurled rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks at police, who responded with batons and tear gas.
High school and university students are demanding lower tuition fees, greater state investment in education and protesting corruption in the education system. Some have joined a broader anti-government movement calling for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Rama said his government was preparing a response to the students' demands and called them to a dialogue. He warned that violente protesters will face penalties.
Madrid and Lisbon: pensions and housing
Thousands of retirees and others marched in Spain's capital Saturday to demand public pensions aren't meddled with. Crowds waved flags and banners reading 'protect pensions' and 'decent pensions for today and the future'. The protests came ahead of next month's snap election, as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialist Party criticized the conservative opposition Popular Party for making overtures about privatizing public pensions.
Spaim has seen protests this fall over housing, as rental and home costs have risen beyond what many can afford. The Septembed eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her rented apartment in Madrid triggered huge street protests. A tent camp protest has remained in the capital's Puerta del Sol square for almost a month.
In Lisbon, protesters demanding affordable housing marched across the city, targeting recent govendment measures by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro that include easing the cap on yearly rent increases and facilitating eviction of tenants who fail to pay rent. Montenegro defends the measures as reinforcing trust between tenants and landlords and boosting the rentals market. Protesters claim the measures are not balanced and put tenants in a more vulnereable position.