NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — Athletes who've arrived early for the Asian Games were unharmed by extensive flooding that hit the central Japanese city of Nagoya, Mayor Ichiro Hirosawa said Wednesday.
“We are not worried about the conditions of the venues and we believe there is no problem holding the Asian Games as planned,” Hirosawa told reporters.
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People sit in front of a shuttered entrance to a subway station after all train services were suspended due to a heavy rain in Nagoya, central Japan Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Shigeyuki Inakuma/Kyodo News via AP)
A street is flooded following a heavy rain in Nagoya, central Japan Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Kazushi Kurihara/Kyodo News via AP)
People cross the flooded streets following a heavy rain in Nagoya, central Japan Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto/Kyodo News via AP)
A car drives along a flooded road following heavy rain with a banner for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in the background in Nagoya, central Japan, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto/Kyodo News via AP)
The Asian Games, an event with more athletes than the Summer Olympics, open Sept. 19 in Nagoya and surrounding areas and run through Oct. 4.
More than 11,000 athletes are signed up from 45 countries and regions in Asia. By comparison, about 10,700 athletes participated in the Summer Olympics in 2024 in Paris.
The previous edition of the Asian Games was held three years ago in Hangzhou, China.
Hirosawa said about 400 athletes and staff who are staying in converted shipping containers — remodeled to serve as temporary housing units for the Asian Games — were briefly evacuated to higher ground during the heavy rain.
He said there were a number of leaking roofs but nothing more serious around the dozens of Games venues.
Record rain fell in parts of the city on Tuesday, flooding dozens of roads and homes, and stranding pedestrians and vehicles. City bus and subway operations were temporarily suspended, the mayor said.
Reports said about 3,500 people took shelter at emergency evacuation centers.
See full AP coverage of Asian sports here
People sit in front of a shuttered entrance to a subway station after all train services were suspended due to a heavy rain in Nagoya, central Japan Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Shigeyuki Inakuma/Kyodo News via AP)
A street is flooded following a heavy rain in Nagoya, central Japan Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Kazushi Kurihara/Kyodo News via AP)
People cross the flooded streets following a heavy rain in Nagoya, central Japan Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto/Kyodo News via AP)
A car drives along a flooded road following heavy rain with a banner for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in the background in Nagoya, central Japan, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Natsumi Yasumoto/Kyodo News via AP)
MILAN (AP) — Thousands of young people marched Saturday through the streets of several Italian cities, including Milan, Rome and Turin as authorities deployed large numbers of police and soldiers in a largely successful bid to stave off a repeat of the violent clashes and looting that marred similar protests last week.
The demonstration in Milan remained peaceful, but there were brief clashes with police in both Rome and Turin.
In Milan, thousands of young people marched the streets as soldiers were deployed and luxury boutiques were boarded up, but by late afternoon, most shops had opened, Italian media reported.
Premier Giorgia Meloni announced a raft of measures, including sending an additional 500 soldiers to Milan and tougher penalties for minors, who police said made up a large part of the violent protesters last week. In Milan, police detained several minors as a preventive measure, media reported.
While protests in France have claimed most international attention, large demonstrations also rocked many European cities Saturday from Milan to Rome to Madrid, Lisbon and Tirana.
The protests encompass a broad range of issues from education and corruption to anti-war movements, pensions and housing.
In Milan, huge crowds of mostly young people gathered as night fell, chanting insults to Meloni and holding aloft banners such as “No to lies of the state.”
A group of protesters dumped manure outside Italy’s energy regulator and burned a symbolic, oversized electricity bill, images broadcast on local television showed.
The 500 soldiers deployed to Milan came in addition to hundreds already stationed there, supporting about 5,000 police and other security personnel. Authorities used drone surveillance, checks at railway stations, rapid-response units and online monitoring for potential calls to violence.
A mayoral hopeful, Pierfrancesco Majorino, who announced his candidacy Thursday, joined the marchers and remarked how peaceful the day was, according to Italian media. He will contest a center-left primary in early 2027. Milan's center-left Mayor Giuseppe Sala, who has held the role since 2016, is not running again.
Many stores, particularly luxury boutiques within Milan's fashion district including Omega, Tiffany and Gucci, boarded up their front windows. The Apple store also shut down and remained shut even as others reopened.
Rioters last weekend smashed their way into stores, targeting sneakers, athletic wear and sporting goods on streets that run off the city’s central Duomo square.
Security measures extended beyond the city center over concerns protesters could move into other neighborhoods.
The protesters ended their march peacefully Saturday evening outside the Milan Polytechnic, more than 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the city center.
Officials said Saturday they were investigating a 30-year-old freelance journalist said to be the “mastermind” of the newly formed Oct. 17 movement, which has been the main driver of the recent protests in Italy.
Milan police say last week's violence and looting involved about 2,000 very young protesters, many of them “naturalized, second-generation Italians,” alongside foreign nationals. Over two days, police arrested 45 people, including 34 minors.
A group of about 30 far-right activists, described as hooligans linked to Inter Milan soccer club, made a brief appearance chanting anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim slogans but were isolated by police.
Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said the soldiers deployed Saturday were only recently allowed to use plastic restraint ties and only in areas around train stations, not throughout the city. They are not authorized to carry pepper spray or tasers, he said.
Security was also heightened in Rome, where authorities locked down luxury shopping streets and stepped up controls around the Circus Maximus and Piazza del Popolo.
A small number of protesters tried to force their way into the Colosseum, but were ushered out by guards. Elsewhere, several hundred students demonstrated peacefully to stress they were not rioters.
“I think the images from last week were truly something terrible, especially for the young people, for the students, for the vast majority of the younger generations who want to study ... and do not accept being represented by those who use issues and needs to devastate entire cities,” said Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student association.
A separate anti-war march took place in central Rome. Organizers sought to distance themselves from potential unrest, urging participants to keep their faces uncovered and hands visible.
But it was these marchers who briefly clashed with police near the Piazza della Repubblica, even as organizers were trying to hold the crowd back using batons and tear gas. In the end, the protesters pulled back when a water cannon was turned on. They retreated to a location about half a kilometer (mile) away.
In Albania's capital Tirana, riot police used water cannons on large groups of protesters, some of whom set government buildings on fire and threw projectiles at police. Authorities said 2,500 officers patrolled the streets Saturday.
For over a week, protesters have hurled rocks, flares, firebombs and fireworks at police who have used batons and tear gas in clashes in the city center.
High school and university students are demanding lower tuition fees, greater state investment in education and protesting corruption in the education system. Some have joined a broader anti-government movement calling for the resignation of Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
A separate protest organized by the opposition outside the prime minister's office turned violent earlier, with some activists lighting fires on the street.
Rama said Saturday his government was preparing a response to the students' demands and called them to a dialogue. He warned that violent protesters will face penalties.
Thousands of retirees and others marched peacefully in Spain's capital Saturday to demand public pensions aren’t meddled with.
“They are threatening us with privatizing pensions. It’s just another thing they want to profit from," said Maria José Benito, 68.
The protests came ahead of next month’s snap election as Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Party criticized the conservative opposition Popular Party for making overtures about privatizing public pensions. Spain also has been roiled by protests this fall around the issue of housing, as rental and home costs have risen in recent years beyond what many Spaniards can afford.
Taking their cue from Spaniards, protesters in Lisbon demanding affordable housing marched across the city on Saturday.
They have also targeted recent measures announced by the government of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro that include easing the cap on yearly rent increases and facilitating the eviction of tenants who fail to pay rent.
Montenegro defends the measures saying that it aims at reinforcing trust between tenants and landlords and boosting the rentals market. Protesters claim that the measures are not balanced and put tenants in a more vulnerable position.
Nellas reported from Athens, and Hui reported from London. Associated Press writers Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Giada Zampano in Rome, and videojournalists Niccolò Lupone in Milan, Veronica Sauchelli in Rome, Alicia León in Madrid and Helena Alves in Lisbon contributed to this report.
Anti-riot police watch as demonstrators march through the streets of Milan, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, to protest against the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services, during one of several demonstrations organized across Italy by groups spanning the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Anti-riot police watch people marching through the streets of Milan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, to protest against the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services during one of several protests in Italy organized by groups across the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Protesters gather during an anti-government rally, in Tirana, Albania, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Riot police advance during an anti-government rally in Tirana, Albania, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Italian army paratroopers patrol the area around Milan's Duomo Cathedral, Italy, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, ahead of expected protests against the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services during one of several protests in Italy organized by groups across the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Protesters gather outside the Prime Minister's office during an anti-government rally, in Tirana, Albania, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)
Shop windows are boarded up in Milan, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, ahead of a protest against the rising cost of living and deteriorating public services, one of several demonstrations organized across Italy by groups spanning the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
Members of right-wing student groups march through the streets of Rome, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, during a demonstration called "Unlock Everything," organized in opposition to recent left-wing student protests and one of several demonstrations held by groups across the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Members of right-wing student groups march through the streets of Rome during a demonstration called "Unlock Everything," organized in opposition to recent left-wing student protests and one of several demonstrations held by groups across the political spectrum, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Members of right-wing student groups march through the streets of Rome during a demonstration called "Unlock Everything," organized in opposition to recent left-wing student protests and one of several demonstrations held by groups across the political spectrum, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Members of right-wing student groups march through the streets of Rome, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, during a demonstration called "Unlock Everything," organized in opposition to recent left-wing student protests and one of several demonstrations held by groups across the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Members of right-wing student groups march through the streets of Rome, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, during a demonstration called "Unlock Everything," organized in opposition to recent left-wing student protests and one of several demonstrations held by groups across the political spectrum. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
