Italy unleashes military response to violent riots as France faces a reckoning of its own
Italy is moving to deploy 500 troops with expanded police powers following a weekend of violent riots, taking a more direct military approach to public security than France, where weeks...
By Fox News · Fox News
Italy is moving to deploy 500 troops with expanded police powers following a weekend of violent riots, taking a more direct military approach to public security than France, where weeks of unrest have prompted authorities to bolster their security response. Videos of unrest in France and Italy flooded social media on Saturday and Sunday, showing violent clashes between demonstrators and police amid burning buildings and looted storefronts. At multiple points during the chaos, police attempting to contain the violence were forced to retreat. In Paris, for instance, roughly a dozen officers confronted several hundred demonstrators but were unable to make arrests, using rubber-bullet launchers and grenades to keep advancing rioters at bay as they made a gradual retreat. Italian police in Milan, meanwhile, made a similar retreat as hundreds of young rioters threw explosive firecrackers, metal barriers and glass bottles at them in their attempt to occupy a public square. Though France is escalating its response now, demonstrations have been ongoing in the country since last month, with many schools being burned and ransacked by rioters. MACRON JETS OUT OF RIOT-TORN FRANCE FOR GULF TRIP AS POLITICAL PRESSURE MOUNTS A Fox News Digital investigation found that socialist groups , Islamic advocacy organizations and environmental activists were involved in the French riots, which financial analysts estimate caused over $1 billion in damages. Videos from the unrest also showed demonstrators waving foreign flags, including Palestinian flags in France and an Albanian flag during the violence in Milan. Italian media reported that many first and second-generation migrants were among the rioters in Milan. WHO'S WHO: INSIDE FRANCE'S 'CHAOS INC.' FRANCHISE OF COMMUNIST GROUPS, LABOR UNIONS AND GLOBAL ACTIVISTS With another wave of riots planned for this coming weekend and authorities bracing for more violence, France and Italy are turning to their armed forces to reinforce security a…