Police in Turin turned back demonstrators with baton-assisted dispersal charges in the early evening of Saturday, 24 October 2026, after a march against rearmament tried to leave Piazza Castello and move into Via Po, according to RaiNews. Two people were taken aside for checks during the pushback, the outlet reported. The rally had been called by the coordinating group Torino è contro il riarmo and drew well over a thousand people to the square before the procession set off.
Why it matters
The afternoon mixed a broad student and worker mobilisation with flashpoints at several points in the historic centre, and it played out in a city where security has been tightened since clashes at earlier demonstrations. RaiNews reported that shop windows along the shopping streets had been boarded up with wooden panels ahead of the marches, and that no routes had been publicised in advance. The day also connected the Turin rally to wider unrest: speakers voiced support for truck drivers mobilising in southern Italy, and the protest was framed by organisers as part of a national effort to "block everything."
A march that kept meeting cordons
The friction began shortly before 17:00. Marchers leaving Piazza Castello tried to head into Via Po, which was held by a line of officers. RaiNews reported that police repeatedly asked the crowd to move towards the Giardini Reali instead, and that demonstrators pressed forward several times before officers cleared them back with dispersal charges, using batons to restore order.
According to the same reporting, two people were stopped for identification during those charges. Officers also called on participants wearing hoods and with their faces covered to uncover themselves.
The route shifted more than once. RaiNews reported that after the initial pushback the procession appeared to change direction towards Via Pietro Micca, and that further tension followed in Piazzetta Reale when marchers tried first towards Via Pietro Micca and then towards Via Garibaldi, each time meeting deployed units. Some demonstrators then reached the steps of the Duomo in an attempt to slip around the blockades into the heavily guarded centre, and were moved on with dispersal charges. RaiNews reported that objects were thrown at officers during that phase, including glass bottles, stones and sticks.
Eventually the march was allowed to proceed along a path set by police, heading towards the Giardini Reali and the northern part of the city. The banner at the front of the procession read "Vogliamo tutto" — "We want everything."
Hooded groups, a burning poster and a slingshot
RaiNews reported that groups of hooded young people appeared in Piazza Castello during the gathering. Earlier in the afternoon, a demonstrator in the square set fire to a poster bearing the image of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; the episode was also reported by La Stampa and Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Separately, officers stopped a man of about 30 a short distance from Piazza Castello after a slingshot was found in his backpack during a check, according to RaiNews. He was led away for further verification.
The security build-up had begun before the march. RaiNews reported that on the evening of Friday, 23 October, Turin police, acting on instructions from the city's prosecutors, placed an Askatasuna activist under house arrest. A judge had ordered the measure tightened from an existing requirement to report to police, in proceedings linked to disorder at pro-Palestine demonstrations in autumn 2025. The stricter order followed the activist's participation in recent Turin marches that ended in clashes with officers, including a cost-of-living protest on 17 October, the outlet reported.
Students, workers and a message from the south
The rally's political content was carried mainly by students. A student procession set off from Piazza Arbarello behind a banner reading "Money for schools, not war — from north to south, students and workers united against the cost of living," RaiNews reported, with more than two hundred upper-secondary pupils heading for the main gathering point in Piazza Castello. A separate student march moved through the historic centre with music, carrying signs including one that read "Don't steal — the government doesn't like competition."
Speaking from the square, Ludovica, one of the spokespeople for Torino è contro il riarmo, asked why funds exist for rearmament and war but not for schools and universities, and said those present were tired of having to choose, according to RaiNews. She said students had shown that taking to the streets is what unites them with workers and farmers, and described the demonstration as a stand against a government that, in her words, wants Italy at war. "We are not willing to sacrifice our lives for their war," she said, adding that "we won't pay for the war." She also said the Palestinian resistance had shown that struggle is still worthwhile, and that the aim was to block the whole country, following the example of southern Italy.
Two young speakers addressed the crowd in support of truck drivers protesting in the south. RaiNews reported their argument that the drivers were treated as heroes while they accepted small concessions, and were branded as mafiosi once they chose to keep their heads up and continue their mobilisation. "We citizens and we students stand with the truck drivers," they said.
RaiNews described the crowd as a mix of different groups, with security measures reinforced to prevent violence and the demonstrations spread largely through social media. Organisers gave no notice of their intended routes.
What to watch next: whether the Turin coordinating group calls further marches, and how prosecutors pursue the cases opened after Saturday's charges and the earlier October clashes.
