Tens of thousands of Italians took to the streets on Friday in a nationwide general strike, marching through more than 50 cities to demand action on soaring living costs, stronger public services and an end to rising military spending.
The action was called by the grassroots union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), which declared a 24-hour general strike drawing workers, students, farmers and pensioners from the public and private sectors. The largest rallies took place in Milan, Turin and Rome, where marchers vented their anger at Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing government.
In Milan, demonstrators carried placards reading “Let’s oust the Meloni government — rebellion is just”, while in Naples some protesters burned photographs of the prime minister. In Turin, farmers dumped manure on the streets, and police used a water cannon to push back students and left-wing activists who approached security cordons around the prefecture building.
In Rome, a large march passed near the Colosseum, where protesters said they planned to set up tents and remain over the weekend for a national assembly while awaiting a response from the government. In Genoa, around 15,000 port workers, students and other demonstrators entered the port, mobilising against what they called the “militarisation” of ports and seeking to block the export of Italian-made arms to conflict zones, including Israel.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful, Italy’s Interior Ministry said “preventative” arrests had been made ahead of the marches to quell violence, and apart from a few isolated skirmishes the protests continued into the afternoon without major incident. In Rome, when some young protesters tried to set a dumpster on fire, others quickly extinguished the blaze.
Transport workers had been due to join the action but abandoned their plans after Transport Minister Matteo Salvini threatened the sector with sanctions. The USB nevertheless urged taxi drivers to strike despite a similar warning.
The grievances varied from city to city but shared a common thread: the rising cost of living. In Bologna, students called for a review of education policy, while dockworkers in Genoa focused on arms shipments and farmers demanded relief from soaring fuel prices. The government last week agreed a 175 million euro aid package for truck drivers, farmers and fishermen hit by fuel prices linked to the war in the Middle East, and its draft 2027 budget includes an annual bonus of 2,500 euros for workers under 30.
The protests follow a wave of similar action across Europe in recent weeks, with hundreds of thousands demanding government action on living costs in France, Spain, Belgium and Albania, and youth protests in Serbia that ousted long-standing leader Aleksandar Vucic last weekend. They also come after clashes earlier this month in Milan, in which protesters fought with police, looted shops and vandalised property, prompting Meloni to toughen laws on public gatherings.
Note on sourcing: crowd figures are attributed to the unions and outlets named; Reuters reported tens of thousands of participants and around 15,000 in Genoa, while some unions put the national total far higher, a figure that could not be independently verified.
Sources: Reuters, “Mass protests sweep Italy during nationwide strike”, https://www.reuters.com/world/mass-protests-sweep-italy-during-nationwide-strike-2026-10-30/ ; CNN, “Major anti-government protests sweep across Italy”, https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/30/europe/italy-protests-anti-government-meloni-intl
