Thousands of young people have marched through the streets of Milan, where large numbers of soldiers were deployed and luxury boutiques were boarded up in case of a repeat of last weekend’s chaotic looting and clashes.
Premier Giorgia Meloni announced a raft of measures, including sending an additional 500 soldiers to Milan and tougher penalties for minors, who police said made up a large part of the violent protesters last week.
While protests in France have claimed most international attention, large demonstrations also rocked many European cities on Saturday from Milan to Madrid, Lisbon and Tirana.
The protests encompass a broad range of issues from education and corruption to anti-war movements, pensions and housing.
In Milan, huge crowds of mostly young people gathered as night fell, chanting insults to Ms Meloni and holding aloft banners such as “No to lies of the state.”
A group of protesters dumped manure outside Italy’s energy regulator and burned a symbolic, oversized electricity bill, images broadcast on local television showed.
The 500 soldiers deployed to Milan came in addition to hundreds already stationed there, supporting about 5,000 police and other security personnel.
Authorities used drone surveillance, checks at railway stations, rapid-response units and online monitoring for potential calls to violence.
Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala has said he is concerned about a repeat of violence and expressed support for the deployment of more soldiers.
Many stores, particularly luxury boutiques within Milan’s fashion district including Omega, Tiffany and Gucci, boarded up their front windows.
Rioters last weekend smashed their way into stores, targeting trainers, athletic wear and sporting goods on streets that run off the city’s central Duomo square.
Security measures extended beyond the city centre over concerns protesters could move into other neighbourhoods.
Demonstrations also took place in Rome, Turin and other cities, with some turning violent.
Officials said on Saturday they were investigating a 30-year-old freelance journalist said to be the “mastermind” of the newly formed October 17 movement, which has been the main driver of the recent protests in Italy, alongside diverse groups.
Milan police say last week’s violence and looting involved about 2,000 very young protesters, a large number of whom were “naturalised, second-generation Italians”, alongside foreign nationals.
Over two days, police arrested 45 people, including 34 minors.
Milan’s welfare councillor Lamberto Bertole told The Associated Press that more investigation is needed to understand the backgrounds and motives of the young people who joined the looting.
“Many young people increasingly lack a sense of belonging and prospects for the future. Part of our society feels excluded, amid social and economic inequalities,” said Mr Bertole, of the centre-left Democratic Party.
Defence minister Guido Crosetto said the soldiers deployed on Saturday were only recently allowed to use plastic restraint ties and only in areas around train stations, not throughout the city.
They are not authorised to carry pepper spray or Tasers, he said.
Security was also heightened in Rome, where authorities locked down luxury shopping streets and stepped up controls around the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo.
Several hundred students demonstrated peacefully to stress they were not rioters.
“I think the images from last week were truly something terrible, especially for the young people, for the students, for the vast majority of the younger generations who want to study, want to make proposals, and do not accept being represented by those who use issues and needs to devastate entire cities,” said Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student association.
A separate anti-war march took off in central Rome.
Organisers sought to distance themselves from potential unrest, urging participants to keep their faces uncovered and hands visible.
In Albania’s capital Tirana, riot police used water cannons on large groups of protesters, some of whom set government buildings on fire and threw projectiles at police.
Authorities said 2,500 officers patrolled the streets on Saturday.
For more than a week, protesters have thrown rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks at police who have used batons and tear gas in clashes in the city centre.
High school and university students are demanding lower tuition fees, greater state investment in education and protesting against corruption in the education system.
Some have joined a broader anti-government movement calling for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
A separate protest organised by the opposition outside the prime minister’s office turned violent earlier, with some activists lighting fires on the street.
Mr Rama said on Saturday his government was preparing a response to the students’ demands and called them to a dialogue.
He warned that violent protesters will face penalties.
Thousands of retirees and others marched in Spain’s capital on Saturday to demand that public pensions are not meddled with.
Large crowds marched peacefully down streets in central Madrid, waving colourful flags and banners reading “protect pensions” and “decent pensions for today and the future”.
“They are threatening us with privatising pensions. It’s just another thing they want to profit from,” said Maria Jose Benito, 68.
The protests came ahead of next month’s snap election as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party criticised the conservative opposition Popular Party for making overtures about privatising public pensions.
Spain has been rocked by protests this autumn around the issue of housing, as rental and home costs have risen in recent years beyond what many Spaniards can afford.
In Spanish cities, a housing supply shortage has worsened thanks to population growth driven by immigration and a proliferation of short-term rentals.
The September eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her rented apartment in Madrid triggered huge street protests.
A tent camp protest has remained in the capital’s Puerta del Sol square for almost a month.
Taking their cue from Spaniards, protesters in Lisbon who have been gathering to demand affordable housing marched across the Portuguese city on Saturday.
They have also targeted recent measures announced by the government of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro that include easing the cap on yearly rent increases and facilitating the eviction of tenants who fail to pay rent.
Mr Montenegro defends the measure, saying that it aims at reinforcing trust between tenants and landlords and boosting the rentals market.
Protesters claim that the measures are not balanced and put tenants in a more vulnerable position.
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