Italy

Rome, October 25, 2026. The Italian press first treats the day of Saturday, October 24, as a test of public order. ANSA speaks of "città blindate": nearly 5,000 people identified, 371 taken to police stations including 110 minors and 69 foreigners, 9 arrests and 87 denunciations, according to the Department of Public Security. The agency notes that "the violence and looting of last week were not repeated", which it attributes to the preventive work of the security apparatus.

In Rome, 43 young people were taken to the police prefecture, found in possession of hoods, gloves, masks and keffiehs; protesters reached the Colosseum, pushed back at the gates. The tension was high in Turin, but also in Bologna and Florence. In Milan, Libero Quotidiano describes 500 parachutists from the Folgore brigade and Lince armored vehicles in the Piazza del Duomo, and estimates that "the State has made its presence known".

The turning point, according to ANSA, is the identification, before 2:30 pm, of the presumed "brain" of the Movimento 17 ottobre Instagram page: Youssef Siher, a thirty-year-old Italian of second-generation Moroccan origin, residing in the province of Brescia, targeted by an investigation for incitement to aggravated delinquency. Panorama details his background (master's degree in Milan, collaboration with Fatto Quotidiano) and quotes his writings in favor of Hamas.

Giorgia Meloni thanked Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi and the law enforcement forces: the right to demonstrate must be guaranteed, but the State must be able to prevent delinquents from "setting fire and blood to entire cities", referring to the measures of the Council of Ministers of the week. Piantedosi mentions isolated violent fringes dealt with "with balance and professionalism". The Local Italy collects the voice of Milanese traders ("We are not scared by these kids") and recalls that these parades coincide with protests by students, truckers, and farmers over the budget, housing, and fuel.

France serves as a mirror. ANSA mentions a "tide" of 400,000 to 800,000 protesters, "festive, popular and peaceful" processions almost everywhere, except for clashes with black blocs at the end of the day; Laurent Nuñez announces "a thousand arrests" against 385 at the same time on October 17. Repubblica headlines with the "protesta degli 800mila" and quotes 110,000 protesters in Paris according to the prefecture.