Anti-Olympics rioters shot fireworks, set off smoke bombs, and threw bottles at police in Milan, Italy, on Saturday in a demonstration against the Winter Olympics.
Footage from the scene showed police in riot gear holding shields to push back against roughly 100 agitators and using a water cannon in an effort to disperse the crowd. According to a report by Reuters, six people were detained.
A group of masked agitators was seen setting off smoke bombs and firecrackers near a construction site roughly half a mile from the Olympic Village. Police vans secured the road to the Olympic Village as the groups moved away from the immediate area.
Milan has seen thousands of people take to the streets to protest issues such as housing costs and environmental concerns amid the Winter Games. Rising property prices have sparked frustration among locals, who say the redevelopment for the event has contributed to increased living costs. Critics have also pointed to a flat tax introduced in Italy that allows new foreign residents to pay a fixed annual tax on foreign income, a policy that opponents argue benefits wealthy newcomers and puts additional pressure on city center housing.
Others also criticized the Olympics itself, seeing the event as a waste of public funds and resources and claiming that related infrastructure projects harm the environment. A larger protest was held on Saturday that included people holding cardboard cutouts to represent trees cut down to build the bobsleigh run in Cortina.
"Let's take back the cities and free the mountains," a banner by a group called the Unsustainable Olympic Committee said. Other signs read things like "Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors.”
The violence comes amid demonstrations last week over reports that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be sent by the United States to assist with Olympic security. US officials said only a small number of agents from Homeland Security Investigations would be present in US diplomatic territory and not operational on the streets. Despite this, protests continued amid broader anti-ICE sentiment in the US over immigration enforcement.
Footage from the scene showed police in riot gear holding shields to push back against roughly 100 agitators and using a water cannon in an effort to disperse the crowd. According to a report by Reuters, six people were detained.
A group of masked agitators was seen setting off smoke bombs and firecrackers near a construction site roughly half a mile from the Olympic Village. Police vans secured the road to the Olympic Village as the groups moved away from the immediate area.
Milan has seen thousands of people take to the streets to protest issues such as housing costs and environmental concerns amid the Winter Games. Rising property prices have sparked frustration among locals, who say the redevelopment for the event has contributed to increased living costs. Critics have also pointed to a flat tax introduced in Italy that allows new foreign residents to pay a fixed annual tax on foreign income, a policy that opponents argue benefits wealthy newcomers and puts additional pressure on city center housing.
Others also criticized the Olympics itself, seeing the event as a waste of public funds and resources and claiming that related infrastructure projects harm the environment. A larger protest was held on Saturday that included people holding cardboard cutouts to represent trees cut down to build the bobsleigh run in Cortina.
"Let's take back the cities and free the mountains," a banner by a group called the Unsustainable Olympic Committee said. Other signs read things like "Get out of the Games: Genocide States, Fascist Police and Polluting Sponsors.”
The violence comes amid demonstrations last week over reports that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would be sent by the United States to assist with Olympic security. US officials said only a small number of agents from Homeland Security Investigations would be present in US diplomatic territory and not operational on the streets. Despite this, protests continued amid broader anti-ICE sentiment in the US over immigration enforcement.
