Locations to be announced shortly before gatherings
Organisers of demonstrations scheduled across Italy this weekend have withdrawn previously announced assembly points and say replacement locations will be disclosed shortly before the events begin. The anonymous platform Movimento 17 ottobre described the plan as a “fluid” strategy intended to avoid police controls and cordons.
According to the organisers’ plan, three meeting points in each city will be announced at 14:30 on Saturday, half an hour before participants are due to gather. A final location will be disclosed at 15:30, with the three groups expected to move there for a joint rally. The previously listed sites included prominent squares in Rome, Florence, Turin, Milan and Bologna.
El Financiero reports that none of the Movimento 17 ottobre events has been officially notified or authorised. Authorities are monitoring social media and messaging channels as organisers prepare to release the revised locations.
Preventive searches and security measures
ANSA reports that preventive searches have been conducted ahead of the planned demonstrations and that 100 people have been identified, around half of them minors. El Financiero says police and the Digos special unit carried out an operation in 18 cities on Friday, identifying 100 people, including 51 minors, over their alleged involvement in looting and damage during the previous weekend.
El Financiero reports that officers seized bladed weapons, bats, fuel containers and items suspected of having been stolen from shops. The outlet also says the government has deployed 500 military personnel in Milan to reinforce security.
A decree approved by the government provides for prison terms of up to five years and fines of up to €20,000 for group participation in violent acts, according to El Financiero. It also increases penalties in cases involving covered faces or injuries, strengthens parents’ financial liability for damage caused by their minor children, and permits preventive detention of people aged 14 to 17 in circumstances specified by law. Movimento 17 ottobre has denounced the measure as authoritarian.