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Thousands Take to Milan Streets to Protest Olympics' Environmental and Social Harms, ICE
"I’m here because these Olympics are unsustainable—economically, socially, and environmentally," said one elderly protester.
Feb 08, 2026
Around 10,000 demonstrators rallied in Milan Saturday to protest the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the games, genocidal Israel's participation, and other issues.
The union and activist network Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi, or Unsustainable Olympics Committee, organized the demonstration, which it called "a popular gathering of social opposition, bringing together grassroots and community sports organizations, civic and environmental movements, territorial committees and student collectives."
The coalition said it is "fighting for the right to housing and for militant trade unions, movements that have stood alongside the Palestinian people, and the Global Sumud Flotilla," the seaborne campaign to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Protesters also decried Decree Law 1660, which empowers police to preemptively detain people for up to 12 hours if they believe they may act disruptively, as well as "state racism against migrants and racialized people, and transfeminist anger against social and institutional patriarchy."
At the vanguard of the protest march were about 50 people carrying cardboard trees representing larches they said were cut down to construct the new bobsleigh track in Cortina d'Ampezzo. They held a banner reading, "Century-old trees, survivors of two wars, sacrificed for 90 seconds of competition on a bobsleigh track costing €124 million."
Stefano Nutini, a 71-year-old protester, told Reuters that "I’m here because these Olympics are unsustainable—economically, socially, and environmentally."
"These Olympic Games are against nature and against people." Thousands of people marched through Milan to protest housing costs and urban affordability on the first day of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. pic.twitter.com/iPcpXwuvQN
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) February 7, 2026
One healthcare worker at the protest told Euronews: "It's public money that has been spent on a display window. It may be interesting to have these showcase events, but at a time when there is not enough money for essential things, it makes no sense to spend it in this way."
Another demonstrator said that the Olympics "have not brought any wealth to the city of Milan and Lombardy."
"They have taken money away from social welfare, public schools, and healthcare," he added. "This money has literally been burned, and not a single lira will go to Italian citizens, particularly those in Lombardy, so these are bogus Olympics."
Other demonstrators held signs reading "ICE Out" to protest US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's presence in Italy to provide security support for American athletes and officials. The agency is at the center of the Trump administration's deadly crackdown on unauthorized immigrants and their defenders in the US. On Friday, hundreds of protesters also rallied against ICE in Milan.
The protests took place as US Vice President JD Vance was in Milan as head of his country's Olympic delegation. Vance was loudly booed at Friday's opening ceremony in San Siro stadium.
While Saturday's demonstration was mostly peaceful, a small breakaway group reportedly threw firecrackers and other objects at police, who responded with brutal force, firing a water cannon, deploying chemical agents, and beating protesters with batons. A young woman suffered a head injury and a young man's arm was broken, according to il Manifesto, which reported six arrests.
Further afield, railway infrastructure was reportedly sabotaged around Bologna in Emilia-Romagna and Pesaro in coastal Marche.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni—whose right-wing government was a common subject of protesters' ire—condemned the demonstration and voiced "solidarity... with the police, the city of Milan, and all those who will see their work undermined by these gangs of criminals."
More anti-Olympics protests were set to take place in Milan on Sunday.
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'No One Should Have a Copyright on Vance Being Booed': Video From Olympics Blocked on X
The vice president attended the opening ceremony in Milan, where people also protested the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Winter Olympics.
Feb 06, 2026
US Vice President JD Vance was booed at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Italy on Friday, but at least one widely shared video of it was swiftly scrubbed from X, the social media platform controlled by former Trump administration adviser Elon Musk.
Acyn Torabi, or @Acyn, "is an industrialized viral-video machine," the Washington Post explained last year, "grabbing the most eye-catching moments from press conferences and TV news panels, packaging them within seconds into quick highlights, and pushing them to his million followers across X and Bluesky dozens of times a day."
In this case, Torabi, who's now senior digital editor at MeidasTouch, reshared a video of the vice president and his wife, Usha Vance, being booed that was initially posted by filmmaker Mick Gzowski.
However, the video was shortly taken down and replaced with the text, "This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner."
Noting the development, Torabi, said: "No one should have a copyright on Vance being booed. It belongs to the world."
As of press time, the footage is still circulating online thanks to other X accounts and across other platforms—including a video shared on Bluesky by MeidasTouch editor in chief Ron Filipkowski.
JD Vance loudly booed at the Winter Olympics today.
[image or embed]
— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) February 6, 2026 at 4:25 PM
The Vances' unfriendly welcome came after a Friday protest in the streets of Milan over the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Winter Olympics, with some participants waving "FCK ICE" signs.
The Trump administration has said the ICE agents—whose agency is under fire for its treatment of people across the United States as part of the president's mass deportation agenda—are helping to provide security for the vice president and other US delegation members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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'This Is a Militia That Kills': Milan Mayor Decries ICE Involvement in Winter Olympics Security
“Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?" asked Mayor Giuseppe Sala.
Jan 27, 2026
The mayor of Milan, which is set to host the 2026 Winter Olympics starting February 6, was not convinced Tuesday by assurances that US immigration officials fulfilling security duties at the games will only be providing protections for top US officials.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, said Giuseppe Sala, "are not welcome in Milan, there’s no doubt about it."
Sala's comments came after the US Embassy in Rome confirmed an official statement from ICE saying that federal officers are scheduled to provide "diplomatic security" during the Milan Cortina games—days after US immigration agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, the third US citizen killed by employees of the Department of Homeland Security in less than four weeks.
ICE has also garnered international outrage with its detention of people without criminal records even as President Donald Trump's administration continues to claim it is working to deport the "worst of the worst violent criminals," and particularly its abduction of young children including 5-year-old Liam Ramos, 7-year-old Diana Crespo, and 2-year-old Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis.
Two Italian journalists were also threatened by ICE agents on Sunday while they were reporting on immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, with the officers telling them, "This is your only warning, if you keep following us, we will break your window and we will pull you out of the vehicle.” Filming and observing ICE agents, as long as one is not interfering with their operations, is a protected right under the US Constitution.
ICE told Al Jazeera that "obviously, ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries,” but Sala suggested that it was not entirely obvious that officers with the agency would not perpetrate violence at the Olympics.
Officers with ICE, he told RTL 102.5 radio, "don’t guarantee they’re aligned with our democratic security management methods."
“This is a militia that kills,” he added. “Can’t we just say no to Trump for once?"
ICE told Agence France-Presse that ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department will be "supporting the US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and host nation to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations."
“All security operations remain under Italian authority," said the agency.
If mitigating risks is the goal, said Alessandro Zan, a member of European Party representing Italy's Democratic Party, "it's paradoxical to entrust it to those who are the first to commit crimes, operating with violence, and killing innocents in cold blood."
"In Italy, we don't want those who trample human rights and act outside any democratic control," said Zan. "It's unacceptable to think that an agency of this kind could have a role, whatever it may be, in our country."
HSI typically investigates "the illegal movement of people, goods, money, contraband, weapons, and sensitive technology into, out of, and through the United States," according to its website.
The Associated Press reported that HSI is among the federal agencies that have helped provide security for US officials at previous Olympic games.
In Milan, the US delegation attending the February 6 opening ceremony will be led by Vice President JD Vance, along with Second Lady Usha Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Sala told RTL that the city "can take care of their security ourselves. We don’t need ICE.”
Renew Europe, a centrist group within European Parliament, added that it is "not acceptable" for ICE officers to be welcomed in Milan as the agency carries out a violent immigration crackdown across the US.
The Green and Left Alliance (AVS) and Azione, two Italian opposition parties that counter the right-wing government, have started petitions calling on officials to bar any agents with ICE from involvement with security operations at the Milan Cortina games.
La Repubblica reported that the Italian government considered blocking ICE from attending the games as part of the security detail, but declined to do so.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said Zan, "should clearly state what is happening and provide guarantees that Trump’s political police will not set foot in our country."
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