Europe: A hot autumn-2026

A fire destroys the city hall in Limoges, central France
Photo: AFP

October 2026 will go down in history as a month of riots across the European continent. Europe is facing a massive wave of protests due to the deep economic crisis. While the EU authorities are abandoning cheap Russian energy resources, Europeans are protesting against rising costs of living, expensive fuel and housing, cuts in social spending and spending to support Ukraine.

Up to 500,000 people have taken part in protests across France. According to the newspaper Le Monde, citing the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) trade union, large-scale demonstrations and clashes with police have broken out in major cities throughout the country.

Following France, protests spread to a number of countries, including the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Albania and Poland. Moreover, peaceful rallies quickly escalate into violent clashes with the police.

The day after a day of demonstrations and violence of an intensity rarely seen in France in recent years, Emmanuel Macron "solemnly" addressed the French on television this Sunday at 8 p.m. While since the start of the high school crisis he had only uttered little sentences of reaction, the French president was therefore forced to react at greater length after this Saturday of destruction and looting. Violence which has also resumed, notably on the Place de la République in Paris, this Sunday evening. The president's last images were from Friday... at the Celine Dion concert, Le Temps notes.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that "nothing justifies" violence during an address to the nation on Sunday, a day after demonstrations drew hundreds of thousands of people to the streets to protest the rising cost of living and poor school conditions.

Macron said: “Those who looted will have to pay back for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable.” He pointed to “unrestrained violence” by “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals.”

"We are six months away from our presidential election. All those who explain to you that the urgency is to go into the streets, to demonstrate, to create disorder, have only one goal: to damage the republic and steal the debate", declared Emmanuel Macron, insisting on the need to hold these debates.

"They must be done in public meetings, with the parties and not in the streets through violence... With respect, never in disorder and in destruction", insisted the head of state, calling for "the spirit of responsibility", "dialogue" and "unity".

Macron expressed the public's “anger” and “shame” over nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools that have resulted in at least 2,300 arrests.

France wakes up to wreckage of a night of rioting after protests turned violent, CNN reports. Communities across France were reeling on Sunday following one of the most violent nights of unrest in recent years, after protests over the cost of living and public services investment descended into rioting – leaving government buildings torched, one police officer and one protester dead, and more than 600 police officers injured.

Police have detained more than 2,000 people after a series of peaceful protests across the country turned violent as night fell on Saturday.

In the central city of Limoges, the 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze on Saturday, with video showing its spire collapsing. In Marseille, masked protesters dressed all in black broke into city hall and defaced the building, and in Lyon, protesters torched the city’s tourist office.

Lawmakers and regional officials launched mounting criticism over the government’s law enforcement plan, BFMTV said, with French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu set to meet the mayors of Paris, Lyon and Marseille – who called for greater reinforcement to repair the damage.

As night fell in Paris on Saturday, groups of young people looted shops and started fires as protests wound down, prompting police to respond with tear gas and baton charges in the narrow streets.

More than 600 police officers have been injured, France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez posted on Sunday, warning that “nothing can justify” the unrest. Earlier this weekend, Lecornu also condemned “unacceptable levels of violence.”

The destruction followed what had been largely peaceful protests, which have grown out of sweeping student-led rallies that gripped parts of France last month, sparking a broader movement against crumbling schools, the spiking cost of living, and perceived government inaction. The rallies have become emblematic of long-simmering, intergenerational anger among people who say their calls for social and political change are going unmet by negligent governments.

Some 550,000 protesters hit the streets across France, including 110,000 in Paris, Nunez said on Saturday. Organizers said far more people turned out.

“There’s an accumulation of wealth and power that’s completely out of control,” one protester, who gave her name as Pauline, told CNN in Paris on Saturday.

Another demonstrator complained of “less democracy” and a “concentration of power” under President Emmanuel Macron’s leadership. “There are billionaires who control the media,” Louise, 38, told CNN. “We are fighting to change things.”

French riot police stand in position in front of the Agence France Presse (AFP) building amid clashes with protesters in Paris
Photo: Reuters

In Belgium’s capital, Brussels – which has already seen weeks of protests by students against university registration fees – police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters, whom they accused of launching missiles at them and setting fires.

In Liege, a smaller city east of Brussels, police also deployed water cannon to break up demonstrations. Police did not say how many people attended.

Meanwhile, in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, an estimated tens of thousands of protesters marched against the cost of living crisis, low wages and an inability to access housing in major cities. House prices in Portugal have more than doubled ⁠⁠since 2017, while rents for new leases have increased nearly as much.

Portuguese Parliamentary Affairs Minister Carlos Abreu Amorim said on Friday that the “government will not yield to shouts from the street”. Protesters said their leaders are “out of touch” with the problem.

Italian demonstrators clash with police at Piazza Duomo in Milan on Saturday
Photo: AFP

The situation in Italy has become equally tense, with protests spreading across Rome, Milan, Bologna, Turin, and Naples on October 16 and 17. In Milan, a crowd of 5,000 people pelted police with stones and bottles, leading to the evacuation of the square in front of the Duomo and the shattering of shop windows. Clashes also occurred in Bologna and Turin, where authorities deployed water cannons and tear gas.

The protests have taken on a distinctly political character: demonstrations held under the banner "A Day Without Meloni" included explicit demands for the resignation of the current government. Trade unions are calling for higher wages and pensions, tax cuts, increased funding for healthcare and education, a review of military spending, and the introduction of taxes on windfall profits.

Against this backdrop, Maurizio Landini, General Secretary of Italy’s largest trade union confederation, the CGIL, has announced a general strike for November 20 — an action that will coincide with a Europe-wide student strike. In the south of the country, long-haul truck drivers and passenger transport operators have joined the movement, protesting against the rising cost of diesel fuel.

In Milan, rioters clashed with police, looted stores and set property on fire in the city centre, emptying Piazza del Duomo and a luxury arcade that would usually be full of shoppers.

A march against wars and rising living costs began peacefully, but masked protesters threw stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police and set fire to barricades made from bar tables.

Milan’s centre-left mayor, Giuseppe Sala, said “the reasons for the protests were understandable. The violence against law enforcement and serious damage to the city are not justifiable.”

In Bologna, police also reported that, alongside peaceful rallies, protesters threw stones and clashed with officers. Police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse the crowds.

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