Italy's Movimento 17 ottobre shifts to secret protest locations for Saturday rallies

Italy's Movimento 17 ottobre has cancelled its announced protest locations for Saturday, October 24, replacing them with three secret gathering points per city to be revealed only 30 minutes before the 2:30 PM start. The groups will then converge on a final, undisclosed square at 3:30 PM. The strategy shift follows the government's approval of a new security decree, which the movement calls "an authoritarian fist" and claims aims to "militarize" known protest sites like Milan's Piazza Duomo and Rome's Circo Massimo. Organizers urge supporters to follow a "proximity logic" and join the nearest concentration point. The movement, born from recent protests, had previously announced weekly Saturday mobilizations at 3 PM in major cities. Activists insist they are not abandoning street action but changing tactics to avoid pre-emptive police cordons and control.