Rabat – Upwards of 10,000 protesters gathered on the streets of Northern Italy Saturday protesting against the excessive environmental, social, and economic cost of the Olympics.
Protesters cited frustration with generally deemed the Olympics a misuse of money and resources, while housing prices are unaffordable and public meeting places are insufficient.
Some protesters called out the inclusion of fossil fuel giants like Eni, a leading global oil company, as sponsors for the 2026 Olympics.
Others decried Israel’s participation in the games given the country’s genocide of Gaza and ongoing ceasefire violations, as well as the deployment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Italy.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the protesters “enemies of Italy and Italians” in a Facebook post on Sunday.
The protest began peacefully with families and children, but eventually erupted after a group of around 100 protesters broke away from the main protest and threw firecrackers, smoke bombs, and bottles at the police, according to Reuters.
Milan police then used tear gas and water cannons on the crowds, resulting in clashes near the Olympic Village. At least six people were arrested during the protests on the first day of the Winter Olympics.
The Italian Transport Ministry is now investigating suspected “terrorism” after railway sabotage near Bologna on Saturday, stating that those responsible will face a multimillion-euro damages claim.
In a more neutral tone than Meloni, International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said on Sunday that peaceful protest is legitimate, but “we draw a line at violence”, which “has no place at the Olympic Games.”
Outcry over ICE at Olympics
Hundreds of protesters had also gathered in Milan Friday to protest the presence of US ICE at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.
Protesters, mostly students, held signs “ICE out,” blew plastic whistles, and urged the visiting USVice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to go home.
The US State Department announced last week that an ICE unit from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) would help surveil for criminal activity, not conduct immigration operations. HSI is a different branch under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) than the department currently carrying out an immigration crackdown across the US.
Matteo Piantedosi, Italy’s Minister of the Interior, told the Italian Parliament on Friday that ICE agents will “have no executive function.”
“The presence of personnel linked to the ICE agency is certainly not a sudden and unilateral initiative to undermine our national sovereignty, as some have portrayed, but rather compliance with a legally binding international agreement entered into by Italy,” Piantedosi clarified.
However, while the presence of such US agents is not unprecedented for major international events like the Olympics, the Trump administration’s brutal crackdown on immigration has garnered increased criticism.
Trump’s immigration department has come under intense public scrutiny after videos of the killings of Minneapolis residents Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal agents went viral. Pretti and Good are two out of at least eight people either killed by federal agents or who died in ICE custody in 2026 so far.
“This is a militia that kills, a militia that enters into the homes of people, signing their own permission slips,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala told local media last week. “It is clear they are not welcome in Milan, without a doubt.”
Italy’s protests accompany more than 300 anti-ICE protests that occurred across the US last weekend as nearly two-thirds of Americans say ICE has gone too far in immigration crackdown.
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