Cost-of-living anger brings hundreds of thousands into the streets across Europe

Hundreds of thousands of people marched through cities in Italy, France, Albania, Spain and Portugal over the weekend of October 24-25, in a wave of protests over the rising cost of living that, in several countries, spilled into clashes with police.

In France, the interior ministry put nationwide turnout at roughly 410,000 people, including about 110,000 in Paris, according to figures reported by Al Jazeera. Police made nearly 1,000 arrests nationwide, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said, after a crowd of roughly 500 clashed with officers in Paris as evening fell and police responded with tear gas and a water cannon. More than 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed across the country, about a fifth more than the previous weekend.

In Italy, police made nine arrests nationwide and referred 87 people to prosecutors, according to the Department of Public Security's figures as reported by Euronews. A further 371 people, including 110 minors and 69 foreign nationals, were taken to police stations for checks, and one person was hospitalised after being struck by officers. Authorities deployed roughly 500 additional soldiers in Milan alongside about 5,000 police and other security personnel, a deployment also confirmed by an Associated Press account carried by PBS NewsHour.

What set off the unrest

The immediate trigger varies by country, but a common thread runs through nearly all of it: squeezed household budgets. Euro area annual inflation rose to 3.8% in September, up from 3.2% in August, according to Eurostat's confirmed release. Energy prices were the biggest driver, up 18.8% year-on-year — their highest annual rate since early 2023 — followed by services, which rose 3.2%. A flash estimate published two weeks earlier by Eurostat had already signalled the jump, which came in above market expectations.

In France, a movement that began in mid-September as high-school protests over dilapidated school buildings, teacher shortages and university admissions has broadened into a wider revolt over living costs and inequality, drawing in remnants of the 2018 "yellow vest" movement. President Emmanuel Macron met student representatives on October 23 for the first time since the protests began and promised more teachers and a review of the Parcoursup university admissions system, but students said the talks had not defused tensions.

In Italy, the protests combine anger over prices and rents with opposition to higher military spending and the war in the Middle East. They follow a weekend of serious violence on October 17-18 in Milan, when police said around 2,000 mostly young protesters, many of them minors, smashed into stores near the Duomo. In Albania, a now more than week-long wave of protests that began over school conditions and university tuition has broadened into calls for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign; he has refused. In Madrid, thousands of retirees marched against pension privatisation ahead of a snap Spanish election next month, while in Lisbon demonstrators protested proposed rent and eviction rules.

Who is affected, and how officials responded

Governments across the continent have combined security crackdowns with gestures toward dialogue. Italy's Council of Ministers approved a decree on October 20, formally presented by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, creating a new offence of "violent participation" in a demonstration, punishable by up to five years in prison and fines up to EUR20,000, according to the government's own account of the decree. The measure also extends preventive detention, previously available only against adults, to minors, with a presumption of criminal capacity applied to those aged 14 to 18, and applies sentencing certainty rules even to 16-year-olds; a separate provision that would have given soldiers police-style powers was dropped after objections from the presidency.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a video message tied to the decree, said "manifestare è un diritto, mettere a ferro e fuoco le nostre città non lo è" — "demonstrating is a right; setting our cities ablaze is not" — adding that the measures were meant "per proteggere chi manifesta pacificamente, chi lavora e chi vuole semplicemente vivere in sicurezza," or to protect those who protest peacefully, who work, and who simply want to live in safety. Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said soldiers deployed in Milan had only recently been authorised to use plastic restraint ties near train stations and remain barred from carrying pepper spray or tasers.

"Manifestare è un diritto, mettere a ferro e fuoco le nostre città non lo è" — "Demonstrating is a right; setting our cities ablaze is not." Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a video message presenting the October 20 security decree

Luxury retailers in Milan's fashion district, including Gucci and Tiffany outlets, boarded their windows ahead of Saturday's march, a precaution after looting the previous weekend; most shops had reopened by late afternoon once the Milan demonstration passed peacefully. In France, authorities banned several planned marches outright, closed at least 24 Paris metro stations, and shut the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay for the day.

What comes next

None of the underlying disputes looks close to resolution. French unions and student groups have called another demonstration for the following Saturday, and hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has threatened a general strike on November 5 if the government does not respond to protesters' demands. In Albania, Rama says his government is preparing a response to student demands and has invited them to dialogue, while warning that violent protesters will face penalties. Italian authorities plan to keep the reinforced military and police presence in Milan in place through the end of the year, and the Italian parliament must convert this month's security decree into law within 60 days or see it lapse.

With winter energy costs typically rising and no sign that inflation is about to ease, officials across the continent face the prospect that this will not be the last weekend of demonstrations.