The Indian Embassy in Rome has advised Indian nationals across Italy to exercise caution and steer clear of crowded areas and protest zones, after demonstrations against the rising cost of living escalated into violent clashes in several Italian cities over the weekend.
The advisory, posted by the embassy on the social media platform X on Monday, October 19, 2026, asked Indian citizens to remain vigilant, stay away from locations where protests were taking place, and keep a close watch on local news for developments. In case of an emergency, the embassy asked Indian nationals to reach out to its office in Rome on +39 331 614 2085 or the Consulate General of India in Milan on +39 3881647527.
"We advise Indian nationals to exercise caution, avoid crowded areas and locations where protests are taking place and follow local news about such events," the embassy said in its post, noting that protests and demonstrations had been reported in several Italian cities the previous week.
The advisory was issued against the backdrop of a weekend of unrest that began as largely peaceful demonstrations on Sunday against rising living costs and the state of public services, but took a violent turn in parts of the country. The most serious clashes unfolded in Milan, where large crowds took to the streets and groups of rioters confronted the police, vandalised shops, looted stores, and set property on fire.
Photographs from the scene showed protesters running through streets littered with debris.
According to reports, more than 5,000 people gathered in Milan over the weekend. When sections of the crowd began hurling paving stones, dustbins, chairs, and other projectiles at police personnel, officers responded with tear gas and water cannons. Stones thrown at the law enforcement forces injured several officers and forced organisers to call off the procession midway, officials said.
Trouble was also reported elsewhere in northern Italy. In Turin, police stopped people carrying cobblestones and hammers, believed to have been brought to confront officers. In Bologna, a railway station was closed as a precautionary measure amid fears that unrest could spread. Demonstrations were additionally reported in Brescia and Bergamo, according to police accounts quoted in news reports.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence on Sunday, drawing a sharp line between peaceful protest and rioting. "Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not," she said in a post on X. She said she had great respect for the thousands of people who had demonstrated peacefully, adding that participation was the foundation of any healthy democracy, whatever the ideas behind it.
Meloni accused groups of hooligans of exploiting the demonstrations to sow chaos and provoke confrontations with the police. She said projectiles thrown in Milan had injured officers and appealed to the opposition to condemn the violence unequivocally and issue a clear call for every mobilisation to remain peaceful. The Italian prime minister was also set to hold an emergency security meeting on Monday to take stock of the situation, according to reports.
The unrest in Italy is part of a wider wave of protest-driven tension across parts of Europe. Nationwide protests took place in neighbouring France at the same time, with demonstrators voicing anger over rising living costs and expressing support for high school students' grievances. Youth-led protests have also flared in other European countries, including Spain and Albania, where demonstrations on the sidelines of largely peaceful gatherings have occasionally turned violent.
For Indians living in Italy, the embassy's advisory is a standard precautionary measure rather than a signal of immediate danger to any specific group. Travel and citizen advisories of this kind are routinely issued by Indian missions abroad whenever local conditions could affect the safety of Indian nationals.
In a parallel move, the Indian Embassy in Tirana issued a similar advisory on the same day for Indians in Albania, where anti-government protests entered a seventh straight day, asking them to remain vigilant, avoid unnecessary movement in affected areas, and stay away from government buildings and likely flashpoints such as Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard and Mother Teresa Square in Tirana.
The Indian community in Italy is one of the larger South Asian diasporas in Europe, with sizeable populations in Lombardy and other parts of northern Italy, many of them engaged in farming, manufacturing, logistics, and small businesses. The advisory is therefore relevant to students, professionals, traders, and workers spread across cities such as Milan, Turin, Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo, and Rome.
What should Indian nationals in Italy do at this point? First, stay informed through reliable local news sources and the embassy's own social media handles for updates. Second, avoid gathering points, demonstration routes, and city centres on days when rallies are announced, particularly in Milan, Turin, and Bologna, which have seen the most tension.
Third, keep identification documents and the two emergency numbers handy: +39 331 614 2085 for the Embassy of India in Rome and +39 3881647527 for the Consulate General of India in Milan. Fourth, steer clear of confrontations with crowds or the police, and leave an area immediately if a peaceful gathering begins to turn unruly.
Missions in Europe have issued such advisories in the past during episodes of civil unrest, transport strikes, and large-scale demonstrations, and they typically remain in force until local authorities signal that the situation has stabilised. For now, the situation in Italy is being closely watched by both Italian authorities and the Indian mission, with the embassy urging its nationals to prioritise caution over convenience while moving through affected cities.
Italian authorities, for their part, have stepped up policing around planned protest routes and transport hubs. The closure of the Bologna station as a precaution underscored how seriously local officials were treating the risk of spillover from one city to another.
Meloni's emergency security review on Monday was expected to cover deployment plans for the coming days, as organisers of further demonstrations indicated they intended to keep up the pressure on the cost-of-living issue.
The broader question for Italy's government is whether the protests remain a contained expression of economic frustration or escalate further. The demonstrations that began peacefully on Sunday drew thousands, and Meloni's own message acknowledged the legitimacy of that anger even as she condemned those who turned to arson and stone-throwing.
Opposition parties, meanwhile, face her demand for an unequivocal condemnation of the violence — a political subplot that will likely play out in parliament and on the streets in the days ahead.
For the Indian mission, the immediate task is communication: ensuring every Indian in Italy knows the advisory exists, knows the emergency numbers, and knows to avoid protest hotspots until calm is restored. The embassy's post on X made the guidance unmistakable — exercise caution, avoid crowded areas and protest locations, follow local news — and the helplines in Rome and Milan are the first point of contact for anyone who needs assistance.
(Reporting based on The Hindu and The Times of India.)