Protest against USA in Milan ahead of Olympics with JD Vance present | OneFootball

Several hundred people demonstrated in Milan this Friday against the United States, just hours before the opening of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, after the Italian head of government, Giorgia Meloni, and the American vice president, JD Vance, celebrated their “shared values.”

Hundreds of high school and university students from Milan gathered on Friday afternoon in front of the “Politecnico” university building, in the capital of Lombardy, to protest against the presence of ICE agents, the United States’ anti-immigration police.

“All of this is unacceptable to us,” declared Leonardo Schiavi, one of the protesters, to AFP, referring to Vance’s visit and the presence of ICE agents.

Another protester, Giacomo Calvi, stated that he is protesting against “the American anti-immigration police who commit all kinds of acts of violence in the United States.”

The Italian government clarified that ICE agents will have no operational capacity on Italian territory. The agents belong to the ICE internal security investigation unit, which is a different division from the one accused of violence in the United States.

Another demonstration took place in a working-class neighborhood near the San Siro stadium, shortly before the opening ceremony began.

“These Games only serve to gentrify,” lamented the protesters in reference to housing rights. Some of the protesters carried pro-Palestinian flags.

Hours earlier, in Milan, Giorgia Meloni and JD Vance highlighted their “shared values.”

“The last time I saw you in Rome was on the occasion of the election of the new pope [in May]. Today we meet for the Olympic Games. These are two events that bear witness to the values that unite Italy and the United States, Europe and the United States, Western civilization,” said Meloni, who is considered ideologically close to the American president, Donald Trump.

In his meeting with the Italian prime minister, Vance praised “the spirit of the Olympic Games, friendship and competition, based on rules and unity around shared values.”

*With content from AFP

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