The Italian prime minister sends more soldiers to Milan in anticipation of the protests scheduled for Oct. 24.

Through a video posted on Tuesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the promulgation of a decree aimed at cracking down on “juvenile gangs” and “violent street protests.” She authorized reinforcing with military personnel security forces in Milan.

RELATED:

Giorgia Meloni Set to Become Italy’s Longest-Serving Government Leader

“Five hundred more military personnel are arriving in Milan, until the end of the year alongside police and carabinieri. And to juvenile justice we are giving more magistrates and more places in centers, so that the certainty of punishment also applies to those who are 16 years old,” the far-right politician said.

Approved at a meeting of the Council of Ministers, the decree establishes that the soldiers will reinforce “Operation Safe Streets,” an initiative implemented in 2008 that keeps some 5,000 Army personnel deployed in numerous “hot spots” across the country.

Her decree will take effect immediately, will have a 60-day period to be ratified by the Italian Parliament, and includes the creation of the “crime of violent participation in a demonstration.”

Nuova giornata di guerriglia a Milano. Gruppo di incappucciati assalta negozi in via Torino. pic.twitter.com/BBI4x47NJH

— Local Team (@localteamit) October 18, 2026

The text reads, “Another day of guerrilla-style unrest in Milan. A group of hooded individuals attacks shops on Via Torino.”

“If during a march or a demonstration you join a group of 5 or more people, you start throwing stones, firecrackers, sticks, you endanger everyone’s safety, you risk up to 5 years in prison and up to 20,000 euros in fines,” Meloni said, and clarified that the decree introduces the principle that “the breaker pays, and if the breaker is a minor, his or her parents pay.”

Aggravating factors may be applied to this new crime if the person has their face covered or if someone has been injured. Biometric identification assisted by artificial intelligence is also authorized, explained the Italian outlet TG La 7.

In the criminal sphere, authorities will be able to immediately apply preventive detention to minors between 14 and 18 years old, and the police chief will be able to apply oral warnings and bans on gathering in public places to young people with a record of violent acts.

IL FUTURO È UNA SCELTA
La vittoria al referendum sulla giustizia ha dimostrato che, insieme, possiamo fare la differenza. Oltre cento associazioni già aderiscono alla Via Maestra. Unisciti a noi.

LAVORO, PACE, AMBIENTE, WELFARE, COSTITUZIONE.
INSIEME SULLA VIA MAESTRA.

La… pic.twitter.com/5d5lWrAwJq

— CGIL Nazionale (@cgilnazionale) October 13, 2026

“THE FUTURE IS A CHOICE. The victory in the referendum on justice has shown that, together, we can make a difference. More than a hundred associations have already joined “The Main Path.” Join us.

WORK, PEACE, ENVIRONMENT, WELL-BEING, CONSTITUTION. TOGETHER ON ‘THE MAIN PATH.’ The Constitution points to a clear way: a country founded on work, social justice, equality, and peace.

This way remains our ‘Main Path.’ Today, however, Italy is moving in the opposite direction. We choose a different path: the path of the Constitution. Hear from Francesca Cantagallo, of the ‘Knowledge Network’, and join us.

OCTOBER 17, ROME. National demonstration. The demonstration will begin at 1:30 PM. Participants will gather at Republic Square and, following a march, the event will conclude at People’s Square around 5:00 PM.”

Initially, Meloni’s decree also contemplated exceptionally assigning police functions to the military for three months, which would have allowed them to make arrests. This provision, however, was left out of the approved text.

Referring to the demonstrations of the past weekend, Meloni said that security forces had detained or identified 330 people, half of them of foreign origin, among whom are people born outside Italy and others born in the country but to foreign parents.

Meloni’s decision comes in response to the protests promoted for Saturday, Oct. 24 by the “October 17 Movement” (17M10), a youth protest group that emerged as a result of the recent clashes in downtown Milan and that has announced permanent mobilizations until the fall of the Meloni administration.

“We are the ones from the squares. Those who see the only violence in the police stick. The violent ones are you who have denied us the future. Now we take that future into our own hands. Violent is this system that kills us. Permanent mobilization every Saturday until this thieving government falls,” the 17M10 stated.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: EFE – TG La 7

The National Museum Removes Progressive Artworks Calling Them ‘Political Indoctrination.’

On Friday, Colombian Culture Minister Paola Holguin defended the removal of more than 30 artworks related to feminist, LGTBI+ or peace themes from the National Museum in Bogota, arguing that those works are an instrument of political indoctrination.

RELATED:

UN Warns Colombia Protest Decree May Widen Police Use of Force

“The National Museum is one of the most important cultural centers in the country. It is the first institution of its kind in Colombia and one of the oldest in the Americas, whose purpose is to reflect the soul of the Nation.

The National Museum, as part of the State, has the purpose of conserving, restoring, protecting and socializing our culture. Its institutional vocation is not to serve as an instrument of political indoctrination, a focus for the dissemination of biased versions of our history, much less a multiplying medium for the government agenda,” stated the official of the far-right government presided over by Aberlardo de la Espriella.

“The National Museum CANNOT be a space for apologizing for crime or revictimization; it must observe the rights of victims to truth, justice, reparation and non-repetition. The National Museum is a space for all Colombians, which must ensure, among other things, the fundamental rights of children, which are prevalent according to Article 44 of the Constitution, and, therefore, must protect them from access to sensitive material.”

“The museology and curatorship of the different spaces under the Ministry are being evaluated and redesigned to fulfill the mission of safeguarding, researching, conserving and disseminating the cultural, historical and artistic heritage of the Nation, serving as spaces for memory, identity and social transformation,” Holguin concluded.

Las personas LGBTIQ+ no son una ideología que un Gobierno pueda sacar de una pared. Son parte de Colombia, de su historia y de sus luchas por la igualdad.

Retirar piezas del Museo Nacional que cuentan la historia del movimiento LGBTIQ+, del feminismo y de las luchas por la paz… pic.twitter.com/VB0LtEIsWS

— Mafe Carrascal Rojas (@MafeCarrascal) October 16, 2026

Legislator Mafe Carrascal Rojas’ text reads: “LGBTIQ+ people are not an ideology that a government can simply strip from a wall. They are an integral part of Colombia, its history, and its struggles for equality. Removing items from the National Museum that chronicle the history of the LGBTIQ+ movement, feminism, and the pursuit of peace is not a matter to be taken lightly.

Given that the president has announced a “cultural counter-revolution” against what he terms “wokeism,” we have reason to ask whether this is an attempt to render social struggles—and the rights won over decades—invisible. We cannot allow diversity to once again be treated as something that must be hidden.

The history of Colombia does not belong to any single president or ideological movement; it belongs to a diverse, pluralistic nation—a nation where LGBTIQ+ individuals have the right to exist, to live free from discrimination, and to have their histories and memories recognized.

The Culture Ministry and the National Museum must provide an explanation regarding the removal of these items, the criteria applied, and the measures in place to ensure this history is preserved. They will not succeed in erasing LGBTIQ+ people from the history of Colombia. Their lives matter, their struggles matter, and their rights are not up for negotiation.”

On Thursday, digital outlet La Silla Vacia reported that De la Espriella removed posters, photographs and objects from three rooms of the National Museum, related to the history of feminist and LGBTI movements, victims of political violence and the 2016 peace agreement signed between the State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Among the pieces removed were a gay pride flag belonging to activist Elizabeth Castillo, a poster from the presidential campaign of Bernardo Jaramillo Ossa, a Patriotic Union candidate assassinated in 1990, and the ‘Baligrafo,’ a pen made from a bullet with which the peace agreement was signed.

The removal of these works is part of the “Cultural Counterrevolution” announced by President De la Espriella, who ordered Holguin to remove from public spaces representations that he considers “apology for terrorism.”

Among such references are works alluding to Carlos Pizarro, former commander of the M-19 guerrilla and peace signatory assassinated in 1990 during that year’s presidential campaign.

During the administration of Gustavo Petro (2022-2026), Pizarro’s hat was declared Cultural Heritage of the Nation, but this recognition was recently suspended by a judicial decision.

La Silla Vacia noted that the order to remove the pieces came directly from the Culture Ministry and that officials participated in the selection of the elements taken down.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE