A truckers’ strike against high fuel prices paralyzed southern Italy on its sixth day, leaving supermarkets with empty shelves, airports without fuel and postal services suspended.
Hundreds of tons of agricultural production remained stranded in trucks or piled up in cold storage rooms, and many business owners decided to suspend harvests and halt production of emblematic products such as buffalo mozzarella.
Poste Italiane was forced to completely interrupt the sending and delivery of mail and packages to and from Calabria, Sicily, Campania and Apulia, the company was reported to have said.
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The mayors of Naples and Bari warned in a joint statement that the paralysis not only threatened food supplies but also jeopardized urban waste management, and they warned of an emergency that could plunge entire communities into a health collapse.
Tension on the roads intensified because of picket activity, and local press reported acts of sabotage in areas such as Caserta, including placing truck tires on highways to force heavy transport to brake.
In response, Italian police escorted convoys of commercial vehicles and deployed operations that resulted in 71 people reported and 242 sanctioned.
Minister of Enterprise Adolfo Urso recalled in the Chamber of Deputies that blocking the passage of trucks was a crime punishable by prison sentences.
In the north, Milan prepared special security measures ahead of new and massive student and youth demonstrations scheduled for Saturday, framed by discontent over the cost of living and the deterioration of public services.
Italy’s Council of Ministers approved on October 20 a new youth security decree that extended preventive detention to minors, until then reserved for adults, and created the crime of violent participation in demonstrations, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to 20,000 euros for anyone who, within a group of five or more people, throws stones, sticks or objects that endanger third parties.
Manifestare è un diritto, devastare le nostre città no. Ecco le misure che abbiamo approvato per contrastare la violenza e tutelare la sicurezza dei cittadini. pic.twitter.com/kqk51X8YZa
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 20, 2026
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