Soldiers Guard Milan as Thousands March Across Europe, From Italian Streets to Madrid, Lisbon and Tirana

On Saturday, soldiers fanned out across Milan while the windows of luxury boutiques sat behind boards, and thousands of protesters, most of them young, marched through the city's fashion and finance heart. It was the first big test one week after looters smashed their way into shops and fought with police.

Premier Giorgia Meloni responded with a package of measures. It includes 500 more soldiers for Milan and tougher penalties for minors, who police say made up a large share of last week's violent protesters. The new troops join hundreds already stationed in the city and support about 5,000 police and other security personnel. Authorities also used drone surveillance, checks at railway stations, rapid-response units and online monitoring for any calls to violence. Mayor Giuseppe Sala has said he fears a repeat and backs the extra deployment.

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto described the limits on the soldiers' role. They were only recently allowed to use plastic restraint ties, and only around train stations, not citywide. They are not authorized to carry pepper spray or tasers.

As night fell, the crowds chanted insults at Meloni and carried banners reading "No to lies of the state." One group dumped manure outside Italy's energy regulator and burned an oversized symbolic electricity bill, according to images on local television. Stores in the fashion district, including Omega, Tiffany and Gucci, boarded up their fronts. Last weekend's rioters targeted sneakers, athletic wear and sporting goods on streets off the Duomo square.

Milan police say about 2,000 very young protesters took part in last week's violence and looting, many of them "naturalized, second-generation Italians," alongside foreign nationals. Over two days, police arrested 45 people, 34 of them minors. Officials said Saturday they are investigating a 30-year-old freelance journalist described as the "mastermind" of the newly formed October 17 movement, the main driver of the recent protests in Italy. Lamberto Bertolé, Milan's welfare councilor, told the AP that many young people lack a sense of belonging and prospects, and that part of society feels excluded amid social and economic inequality.

Security was tight beyond Milan. Demonstrations were called in Rome and at least seven other cities. In Rome, authorities locked down luxury shopping streets and increased controls around the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo. Several hundred students demonstrated peacefully to show they were not rioters. Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student association, said last week's images were terrible for students who want to study and make proposals. A separate anti-war march in central Rome asked participants to keep faces uncovered and hands visible.

Elsewhere the mood was harsher. In Tirana, Albania, riot police used water cannons on large crowds, and some protesters set government buildings on fire and threw projectiles at officers. Authorities put 2,500 officers on the streets. For more than a week, protesters have thrown rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks, and police have answered with batons and tear gas. Students want lower tuition, more state investment in education and an end to corruption in the system, and some have joined calls for Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign. An opposition protest outside his office turned violent earlier in the day. Rama said his government was preparing a response and invited students to talk, while warning that violent protesters will face penalties.

In Madrid, thousands of retirees and others marched peacefully, with colorful flags and banners reading "protect pensions." Maria José Benito, 68, said they are being threatened with privatization, "just another thing they want to profit from." The march came ahead of next month's snap election, with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's Socialists criticizing the conservative Popular Party for overtures about privatizing pensions. Spain has also seen housing protests this fall as rents and home prices outrun many people's means.

In Lisbon, protesters took their cue from Spain and marched for affordable housing. They also object to measures from Prime Minister Luis Montenegro's government that ease the cap on yearly rent increases and make it easier to evict tenants who fail to pay. Montenegro says the changes will build trust between tenants and landlords and boost the rental market; protesters say they leave tenants more vulnerable.

What to watch in Italy is whether the tougher penalties for minors and the investigation into the alleged October 17 organizer shape the next round of demonstrations.