By Republic Dispatch Staff
Footage circulating online from Milan shows a moment that should alarm anyone who cares about public order, press freedom, and the rule of law. During an anti-Olympics protest connected to preparations for the Milan–Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, demonstrators appear to fire fireworks horizontally toward members of the media at close range—turning a crowd-control nuisance into a potentially lethal confrontation.
The video, widely shared on social platforms, captures fireworks launched not skyward but directly into a street-level scrum where reporters and camera operators were working. In the clip, a journalist can be heard shouting in pain as the crowd surges. Italian authorities have not yet released a full accounting of injuries or arrests, but officials confirmed that an investigation is underway.
Protest or Assault?
Peaceful protest is a protected civic right. Weaponizing fireworks against people—especially journalists performing their jobs—is not. Fireworks are explosive devices designed to burn and detonate; used improperly, they can cause severe burns, eye injuries, and permanent hearing damage. When aimed at individuals, they cross from expression into assault.
Calling such conduct “activism” stretches the term beyond recognition. Protest seeks to persuade; violence seeks to intimidate. The distinction matters, particularly in a city hosting an international event where security, public confidence, and Italy’s global reputation are on the line.
The Press as a Target
What makes this incident especially troubling is the apparent targeting of the media. A free press is not an accessory to power—it is a public safeguard. Intimidating reporters chills coverage and deprives citizens of verified information. Democracies do not thrive when mobs decide which cameras are allowed to roll.
Context Matters—So Do Boundaries
Opposition to large-scale events like the Olympics is not new. Critics often raise legitimate concerns about cost overruns, displacement, environmental impact, and transparency. Those debates deserve airtime. But the moment protest tactics endanger bystanders or journalists, the cause undermines itself and invites the very crackdown it claims to oppose.
What Comes Next
Italian law enforcement faces a clear test: identify those responsible, enforce the law proportionately, and reassert the boundary between lawful protest and criminal violence. Event organizers, for their part, must demonstrate credible security planning that protects residents, visitors, and the press alike.
The world will be watching Milan in the months ahead. Whether the city is remembered for hosting a successful Winter Games—or for losing control of its streets—depends on restoring order now and refusing to excuse violence under the banner of protest.
Republic Dispatch 
Unfortunately far too many media outlets become the mouthpiece of which ever party is in power. Dancing to the tune played for them like puppets on a string, parroting whatever they are told to report and say nothing more and nothing less.
Joseph Goebbels would so proud of his descendants using and improving on his methods, all the while pretending to be a free press.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in The Declaration of Independence:
“Specifically states that when a “long train of abuses and usurpations” occurs, designed to reduce people under absolute despotism, it is the people’s right and duty to alter or abolish that government to ensure future security.”
Just be glad that those protesters weren’t channeling the common people of France and Russsia. Who overthrew both monarchies and executed the aristocratic class for their crimes against the common people.
Hang on tight though because I have a feeling its going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.
BTW and FYI tyrants and despots always use the “Law and Order” mantra in order to excuse their own lawlessness.
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