500 soldiers Milan through Dec. 31, cabinet says

Key Takeaways

The deployment	Italy's cabinet on Tuesday, Oct. 20, approved 500 more soldiers for Milan through Dec. 31, 2026. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said they will support public-security authorities in the city.
Police powers	ANSA and Corriere della Sera reported Quirinale objections to judicial police powers for those soldiers. Piantedosi said there was no stop, and spoke of a possible extra function in the deployment plan.
New penalties	Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said a group-violence offense carries two to five years. Piantedosi said a parent can be fined 500 to 1,000 euros when a minor joins such crimes.
Arrest figures	Piantedosi said Milan police made about 400 stops and about 50 arrests. The Guardian reported a Monday, Oct. 19, police figure of 271 people detained and 32 arrested.

Italy's cabinet on Tuesday, Oct. 20, approved 500 soldiers Milan will host through Dec. 31, 2026, after riots on Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the troops would support public-security authorities. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the deployment in a social video, Corriere della Sera reported.

500 soldiers Milan will host through Dec. 31

Piantedosi said at 12:09 of the cabinet press conference that the last clause sets "una dotazione di 500 unità," a complement of 500 Italian army personnel, for security and territorial control in Milan. The measure takes effect at once because it is in the decree-law, he said, and for the moment it runs through Dec. 31, 2026.

The cabinet was called for 5:30 p.m. local time at Palazzo Chigi in Rome to examine an urgent decree-law on public security and juvenile crime. The note on Council of Ministers meeting No. 193 says the meeting was held and that Piantedosi and Justice Minister Carlo Nordio described the approved measures. The decree text was not on that page.

In a social video afterward, Meloni said the soldiers would serve beside the police and the Carabinieri, Italy's military police, and that certainty of punishment should also cover a 16-year-old, Corriere reported. "To demonstrate is a right. To put our cities to fire and the sword is not," she said.

DIRE said a draft it had read adds 500 armed-forces personnel in Milan through Dec. 31, 2026, and authorizes 4,753,131 euros. The draft applies the 2008 rules for Strade Sicure, soldiers used for street security. A Defense Ministry note in that report said the 500 would keep those duties, working with the police. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto wrote on X on Monday, Oct. 19, that extra soldiers made sense only if they could act as police for three months, L'Espresso reported.

What was said about police powers

ANSA, citing parliamentary sources, reported that the Quirinale, President Sergio Mattarella's office, objected only to judicial police duties for the soldiers. Corriere wrote that Mattarella would be opposed to widening their tasks, because they lack the training of the State Police, the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza.

Piantedosi rejected that at 14:02. Asked if the Quirinale had stopped police functions for the Milan contingent, he said, "No, nessuno stop," no, no stop. Talks with the Quirinale while a text is drafted are always very fluid, very calm and very constructive, he said. He added that Milan's provincial public-security authority could still give the soldiers some innovative function, beyond the usual street role.

The signed decree was not on the government site on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The spending figure and the claim that police powers were dropped therefore come from drafts and from the ministers, not from a decree text on the government site.

Prison terms, fines and minors

Nordio said at 3:51 that a new offense covers organized violence at a demonstration when at least five people unlawfully use sticks, clubs or other weapons, or throw objects, flares or fireworks, and create a concrete danger. Prison runs from two to five years. It rises if offenders hide their faces or strike energy, transport or other public services.

Anyone who organizes or promotes that group, including online, faces four to 12 years, ANSA and Corriere quoted Nordio as saying. Captions of the government video did not render that range cleanly. He also described deferred arrest, made after the crime is no longer underway and before a pretrial detention order. A presumption that a minor from 14 to 18 understood the act was already in a bill. Putting it in the decree, he said, gives it immediate effect.

At 8:44 Piantedosi said the prefect, the interior ministry's local representative, can fine a parent 500 to 1,000 euros, doubled if repeated, when a minor joins crimes like Milan's, even if the minor is not criminally liable. The prefect can order payment for damage to public property. A private victim can seek a fast court order. Corriere and L'Espresso reported a preventive hold of 24 hours that can apply to minors. On camera he said the hold rests on a well-founded suspicion and covers crowded places, not only marches.

Two arrest counts, and Wednesday, Oct. 21

Piantedosi's figure and the police tally in The Guardian do not match. He said at 16:28 that Milan police made about 400 stops and about 50 arrests. The Guardian reported that police said on Monday, Oct. 19, they had detained 271 young people and arrested 32, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals, and had reported 28 others to judicial authorities.

The paper said the violence grew beside a cost-of-living protest. Hooded youths burned bins, smashed windows and looted shops near the cathedral on Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18. Police used tear gas and water cannon. Chanel, Tiffany and Dior cleared windows in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, and the Guardian said Decathlon, Arc'teryx and Vodafone were ransacked. It reported 28 arrests in Turin and clashes in Bologna, Brescia and Bergamo.

Piantedosi said early checks pointed away from structured links with organized antagonist groups. He expects further attempts on later days, and he will chair Milan's provincial public-order committee on Wednesday, Oct. 21, a sitting ANSA placed at 11 a.m. The same days brought violent protests in France, including tear gas at Place de la République in Paris on Sunday, Oct. 18.