Protests expected in Rome, Milan under heavy security

ROME: Security forces are deploying in large numbers across Italy on Saturday for protests planned in eight cities, including Rome and Milan, after some demonstrations turned violent last weekend.

The demonstrations come amid a wave of protests by students, truck drivers and farmers over budget cuts and cost-of-living issues such as housing and fuel prices.

Rome's police force said in a statement it would "saturate both physical and virtual territory" and use drones and helicopters to monitor the demonstrations.

It said it still "aimed to safeguard the full exercise of the right to express one's views, including dissent, but strictly in compliance with the law".

In Milan, extra soldiers deployed following last weekend's protests will patrol the city centre, but Mayor Giuseppe Sala said there were no plans to shut down the city.

"Last weekend there weren't enough of us. We will simply try to be more numerous," he told Radio Lombardia.

Sala also encouraged shops to remain open on Saturday, after several boutiques in the fashion hub were looted last weekend and others closed or removed their window displays.

"If panic spreads then everything stops," he said on Friday.

A group calling itself the "Oct 17 Movement" has called for protests at 1300 GMT in eight Italian cities.

It said there would be three protests in each city, which would converge at one location, and that the locations would only be revealed half an hour before the start.

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Separately, an anti-war movement called the "Anti-imperialist Axis" has also organised a rally in Rome.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard-right government adopted a security decree this week that eases detention rules for minors, introduces an offence of "violent participation in a demonstration" and imposes fines on parents for damage caused by their children during protests.

Police said on Friday they had carried out dozens of raids against people suspected of taking part in looting and rioting during last weekend's protests.

The government has also approved a series of measures to help truck drivers and fishermen cope with the spike in fuel prices.

Almost all the truck blockades that had paralysed southern Italy, causing fuel and food shortages for days, have now been lifted.