Milan is boarding up before the protest. We’re not about to lose. We’ve already lost.

Milan is boarding up. This is not the city to drink in anymore. Look at the video coming from downtown. Filmed a few minutes ago. This is not Paris. This is not Lyon. This is Milan. And what you see is not a construction site. It is fear. Shop owners are putting wooden boards over their windows. In front of Oysho, Zara, Rimowa, Levi’s. Huge stores, in the heart of the city, turned into shops in a war zone. Wood nailed up. Shutters down. Workers working until night to close everything. Why? Not because of an earthquake. Not because of a flood. Because tomorrow there is a protest. And they already know how it will end. They know because they have seen what happens in other European cities. Broken windows, looting, glass on the ground. And no one who pays. This is the point. This is not prevention anymore. This is preemptive surrender. A normal city does not board itself up before a protest. A normal city protests and then goes home. Milan instead is preparing for the worst because the worst has become normal. And while shop owners put up boards, those who should guarantee safety talk about the right to protest. The right to protest does not include the right to destroy. Remember when we watched videos from France and said: sooner or later it will happen here too? They told us we were alarmists. That Italy was different. And instead it happened. With the same script, with the same damage, with the same indifference. Milan boarding up is the perfect image of Italy in 2026. It is not Milan to drink. It is Milan hiding. When a shopkeeper has to turn his store into a bunker for fear of his own fellow citizens, you have already lost. You have lost the city, you have lost commerce, you have lost the sense of community. We are not about to lose. We have already lost.