Rome - Urban unrest, downtown shops attacked, vandalized and looted, stones, glass bottles, firecrackers and chairs hurled at police. Authorities are now assessing the damage, seeking to identify those responsible and, above all, examining chat groups and social media channels for evidence of possible coordination behind the clashes, which largely involved young people.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi is unequivocal in his assessment of those who took to the streets: “Professional agitators, agitated individuals.” Their actions, he warned, “will not go unpunished.”

Detentions — 160 in Milan alone yesterday — and arrests have continued, and investigations have been launched “to bring those responsible to justice.”

Piantedosi, who again thanked law enforcement officers for intervening “with restraint and care,” has made his position clear: no one will be spared. The fact that some of those involved in the violence were minors does not mean they will enjoy “impunity,” he said. “Anyone who engages in such illegal acts will face the appropriate response from the State, which will enforce the law.”

“This is clearly senseless, brutal violence that will achieve nothing,” the Minister added.

Yesterday afternoon, Piantedosi met with senior Interior Ministry officials and the Chief of Police. Milan’s Chief of Police Bruno Megale joined remotely. Today, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called a meeting on public order and security with Piantedosi and the heads of the law enforcement agencies. The aim is to assess what happened, reconstruct the sequence of events and identify those involved.

Authorities are also on high alert ahead of upcoming demonstrations. In Rome today, protesters are scheduled to gather to demand lower production costs, an end to soaring fuel prices and action on the cost of living, while opposing spending on wars.

Shop windows on Corso Garibaldi damaged during protests in Milan

In Turin, a demonstration against rearmament and data centers is scheduled for Oct. 24 under the slogan “We Won’t Pay for War.” It was organized by a network bringing together various groups from Italy’s radical left and anarchist movements. A nationwide general strike is scheduled for Oct. 30, with workers, students, truck drivers and farmers expected to take to the streets.

The call to protest circulated the other day was a generic appeal — “Let’s take to the streets to protest” — with no signature, organizational affiliation or identifying symbols. Yet it struck a chord with angry teenagers, particularly young people from immigrant families who are often marginalized and treated as a nuisance or a problem. Social center activists and anti-vaccine groups were also among those involved.

The rising cost of living, soaring fuel prices and the housing crisis? Those issues remained largely in the background.

The flyer calling for mobilization was created using artificial intelligence and shared on social media but made no mention of any of those concerns. Instead, it acted as a spark, tapping into anger and discontent of all kinds. Experts say the minors gathered spontaneously through social media, seemingly “out of nowhere.” Investigators are examining the events even as broader questions about the social conditions behind the unrest come into focus.

Across a range of Telegram channels, from radical activist groups to those associated with protests over the cost of living and fuel prices, videos of the unrest and claims of responsibility for various actions are circulating. “Those who sow exploitation, repression and war reap a storm,” reads one message. Another urges followers to “Look to France: fight hard, fear nothing.”

Each group is claiming its own actions and confrontations in its own way. Teenagers, too, are sharing TikTok videos of attacks on shops.

Protests and anger are converging. The goal? To sow chaos.