Protests turn European cities into ‘battle ground’

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets across major European cities this month, as widespread anger over the skyrocketing cost of living and underfunded public services erupted into massive, sometimes violent protests. 
France woke on Sunday to the wreckage of one of its most violent days of unrest in years after protests over high prices and public services left one demonstrator dead, hundreds of police injured and nearly 1,800 people arrested.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted into riots on Saturday, with a town hall torched, shops ransacked, and buildings covered in graffiti as violent groups clashed with police in cities across the country.
One protester died after suffering a cardiac arrest during demonstrations in Paris, where police made a record 855 arrests. Across France, more than 500 officers were injured, the interior minister said.
“It’s like a war zone here,” said Dutch entrepreneur Tije De Boer, who had come to Paris with his children to visit a friend and said the protests forced him to evacuate his hotel at Place de la Republique, which suffered major damage on Saturday.
More than half a million people joined marches in scores of cities, marking the convergence of a month-long student movement with broader social discontent against rising living costs and declining public services.
In Paris, smashed shop windows, burnt-out bicycles and spray-painted slogans bore witness to a day that began largely with peaceful demonstrations but descended into violence. In Limoges, southwestern France, mayor Guillaume Guerin denounced the chaos after the city’s 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze and partially destroyed in an arson attack on Saturday.
Bordeaux Mayor Thomas Cazenave said up to 100 stores had been looted in his city.
French retailer Carrefour’s <CARR.PA> Chief Executive Alexandre Bompard told BFMTV that 50 of the company’s shops had been damaged including 20 that were looted. The protests began last month over school conditions and teacher shortages in working-class suburbs, before broadening into a movement against inequality, public spending cuts and the rising cost of living.
“France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country,” US President Donald Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday. “Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!”
Meanwhile, police fired tear gas on Saturday after coming under attack from protesters throwing stones in the square in front of Milan’s Gothic cathedral, Italian media reported, while there were also clashes in the city of Bologna following protests over the cost of living.
Police in Bologna used a water cannon to try to disperse crowds and made seven arrests after the protest became violent, the ANSA news agency reported. 
In Milan, police in riot gear also tried to clear hooded protesters from the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the luxury shopping arcade on one side of the cathedral square, as groups broke away from the cost-of-living protest. Shops pulled down their shutters and tourists fled the central area. The central Duomo (Cathedral) metro station was closed during the clashes in which several people were reported injured, and arrests were made, according to the Italian media reports.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on Sunday rejected calls to step down from growing street protests. Student-led demonstrations, fuelled by anger over perceived government corruption, a lack of jobs and poor education standards, have engulfed central Tirana and spread to other cities in the past week.
In Belgium, students began demonstrating in early October against tuition reforms, overcrowded classrooms and funding cuts. Some categories of students face fees of up to 1,194 euros for the 2026-27 academic year. Protests spread from Liège to Brussels and other cities, with arrests reported during disorderly demonstrations.
Spain’s worsening housing crisis has triggered protests across the country, putting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez under pressure and turning affordable housing into a major issue ahead of the next general election. Protests in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Malaga have brought together tenants, housing activists and residents angry about rising rents, evictions and the difficulty of finding affordable homes. The attempted eviction of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid became a symbol of the crisis.