By Giuseppe Fonte and Anna Uras
ROME, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Italy will approve new security measures on Tuesday targeting minors, politicians said, after days of unrest that have seen demonstrators clash with police, loot shops and vandalise property.
Under the crackdown, law enforcers will be allowed to detain people under the age of 18 at police stations for 12 hours, even if they have not committed a crime, provided there is evidence they pose a danger, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said.
Rome is also expected to deploy an additional 500 army troops in Milan as authorities fear more unrest at demonstrations planned for Saturday.
“We want to intervene quickly on young people,” Salvini told RTL radio broadcaster ahead of a cabinet meeting called on Tuesday to approve the measures.
PM MELONI HAS PASSED A STREAM OF SECURITY LAWS
Several hundred hooded protesters, many believed to be minors, set bins ablaze and looted shops in the centres of Milan and other cities over the weekend, after initially peaceful demonstrations over poor public services and rising costs.
The disturbances echoed riots in neighbouring France, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday in some of the country’s most violent protests in years.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has passed a steady stream of security crackdowns since taking office in 2022, which critics say do little to address the underlying causes of crime and disorder.
Italy’s prison population has increased by more than 17% over four years, or nearly 10,000 people, government data shows.
Marina Prosperi, a criminal defence lawyer in Bologna, said the main effect of numerous new crimes the government had put on the statute book was to make protesting more risky, especially for migrants seeking residence permits or citizenship.
The latest unrest comes as soaring energy costs complicate Meloni’s plans to fund tax cuts and spending increases in next year’s budget, the last before a national election due in late 2027.
Italy faces growing concentration of wealth among top earners and stagnant real wages for low- and middle-income workers.
The top 10% of Italian households held 60% of net household wealth in 2023, up about 7 percentage points from 2010, according to the Bank of Italy.
Interior Undersecretary Nicola Molteni told broadcaster Radio 24 the government would approve an “emergency decree” to immediately implement security rules that have been the subject of debate in parliament.
These measures are expected to include banning youths from attending events or entering designated areas if there is reason to believe they could endanger public safety.
“People on TikTok are saying they plan to raid stores in Como on Saturday. We cannot wait until Saturday afternoon to intervene,” Salvini said.
(Editing by Gavin Jones)
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