A general strike called by the grassroots USB union brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets of Milan on Friday, 30 October, with marchers entering the city's Eastern Ring Road (Tangenziale Est) and forcing police to shut it to traffic. According to Corriere Milano, around 35,000 people were marching between via Palmanova and the ring road slip road. The procession was made up of workers, students, social centre activists and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the outlet reported.
Police closed the A51 Tangenziale Est in both directions between Cologno Monzese and viale Forlanini before the march arrived, clearing cars from the stretch and shutting the service stations at Cascina Gobba East and West. Corriere Milano reported no public order problems between demonstrators and police or carabinieri as the column moved south towards Lambrate.
Why it matters
The strike was organised by USB, a base union outside Italy's main confederations, and the size of the turnout in Milan gives a measure of how far cost-of-living grievances can mobilise people beyond established labour channels. The decision to route the march onto a major motorway ring road — and the authorities' willingness to close it in advance rather than block the procession — turned a labour action into a visible disruption of the regional road network. The day was not confined to Milan: Il Post reported that demonstrators also occupied ring roads in Bologna, while VeneziaToday reported student protests against the rising cost of living in Mestre and Venice.
How the march unfolded
The column set off from piazza Leonardo da Vinci, where a student march that began in the morning merged with the workers' procession. From there it moved along viale Palmanova and crossed the via Palmanova overpass to join the Tangenziale Est at the Cascina Gobba exit, then headed south towards Lambrate. Corriere Milano put the gap between the front and the tail of the procession at roughly a kilometre, or about half an hour of walking.
Speaking from the lead truck, organisers told participants that USB was the only group to have called a national strike for 30 October, arguing that others had failed to grasp the importance of doing so at this moment, and called the decision a source of pride. They urged order and discipline among marchers before the column entered the ring road. A megaphone announcement claimed 1.5 million people were striking nationwide and 40,000 in Milan alone; ANSA reported that organisers put the Milan crowd at 100,000, a figure well above the 35,000 cited by Corriere Milano. A police helicopter monitored the area throughout.
Marchers chanted slogans calling for the liberation of Palestine and against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, along with anti-fascist chants. Ilaria Salis, a member of the European Parliament, was among those in the street, according to Corriere Milano.
The front of the column, flanked by two lines of officers in riot gear, left the ring road after covering more than two kilometres and headed down the Lambrate slip road towards piazza Leonardo da Vinci, where the rally was due to end. The tail was still leaving the ring road after three hours of closure. At the Lambrate junction, Corriere Milano reported, many young people sat down on the carriageway, while officers in riot gear with armoured vehicles blocked the route a few hundred metres to the south to stop the march continuing. Traffic was reported to be moving normally in front of Lambrate station as participants gradually dispersed.
Red paint, banners and a Palestine flag
Along the way, Corriere Milano reported, demonstrators used spray cans to paint the central reservation barriers at the height of Lambrate, leaving slogans referring to Meloni and Salvini. Others in white overalls and glittered masks covering their faces sprayed red paint on signs, pillars and barriers along the ring road.
Some young people with covered faces hung a banner in French reading "Le monde est à nous" on one of the large overhead signs above the ring road. Another group used metal service ladders to climb onto the elevated structure crossing the carriageway and unfurled a large yellow banner, with firecrackers set off during the action. A demonstrator carrying a small child on his shoulders waved a Palestinian flag in front of officers stationed with armoured vehicles on the ring road.
Traffic measures and disruption
Road authorities, working with the prefecture and police, set up traffic controls ahead of the march's arrival on the A51. Beyond closing the two Cascina Gobba service areas, contingency plans allowed for the closure of the Cologno Monzese West to Milano viale Forlanini stretch in both directions, with diversions on the main routes: mandatory exits at Forlanini for northbound A51 traffic and at Cologno Monzese West for southbound traffic; a diversion towards the A4 towards Venice for southbound A52 traffic; and closure of the A50 South branch towards San Giuliano and the A51, with traffic redirected onto the A1 towards Melegnano and then the A58 outer eastern ring road. The motorway operator deployed staff between the viale Forlanini and Cascina Gobba exits and advised drivers to follow signage and plan alternative routes. The Melegnano exit on the ring road remained closed, and ATM public transport lines were diverted.
What to watch next: whether the organisers' national turnout claims hold up in independent estimates, and whether the road closures and diversions around the eastern ring road are lifted once the last marchers reach piazza Leonardo da Vinci.
