Italy approves troop deployment, toughens penalties after clashes: PM
Key takeaways by Insider Paper
- Government to send 500 troops to Milan after violent clashes and looting left dozens of police officers injured.
- Cabinet expected to approve deployment and grant soldiers temporary policing powers to support law enforcement.
- Protests over rising fuel and living costs, including truckers, have blocked roads and disrupted pasta production and food deliveries.
- Leading pasta makers halted or reduced output as flour deliveries were blocked, threatening supplies for poorer households.
- Transport minister pledged 480 million euros to tackle the fuel crisis, but unions say blockades will continue until concrete measures arrive.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday announced the deployment of 500 troops to Milan until the end of the year to assist police following clashes in the city.
Meloni said a cabinet meeting also approved measures to make the detention of minors easier, to impose fines on their parents for any damage and to introduce the crime of “violent participation in a demonstration”.
“Protesting is a right, devastating our cities is not,” Meloni said in a video on X.
