Italy's General Strike Fills Rome, Milan and Turin as Students and Unions March Against Living Costs and Rearmament

Students have been the engine. Beatrice Chilelli, a 21-year-old university student in Rome, told The Local that students are at a breaking point, citing single rooms renting for 1,200 euros a month. Tent camps and school occupations have multiplied in recent weeks. The movement follows two weekends of unrest, including looting and clashes in Milan on 17 and 18 October, after which the government toughened the law on public gatherings and eased rules on detaining minors. We covered the security decree and the 500 troops for Milan at the time.

How has the Meloni government responded?

With money for the drivers and a hard line on disorder. The cabinet agreed a 175 million euro aid package last week for truckers, farmers and fishermen hit by fuel prices that have climbed since the war with Iran began, and its draft 2027 budget proposes an annual 2,500 euro bonus for workers under 30. Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday she hoped the measures would answer young people who feel the state does not care, adding that they were "not for those who smash windows." A government order barred transport workers from joining Friday's strike, so rail and local operators ran largely normal services, though the USB said it would strike regardless.

Security was visible everywhere. NBC News reported riot brigades, drones and helicopters over the Rome march, and blockades expected at the ports of Genoa, Livorno and Trieste, where farmers and truckers in the south had already blocked highways over diesel prices. NBC framed Italy's protests as part of a wider European wave, with encampments in Madrid, marches in Lisbon and tear gas in Brussels.

Friday's march is unlikely to be the last. The 26 billion euro budget now begins a long passage through parliament, the student movement has promised to keep its camps, and a further day of action is already being discussed in several countries for early November. The question for the government is whether a youth bonus and fuel relief can drain a movement that is as much about housing and wages as about any single budget line.