Answer in brief
Between 13 and 18 October 2026, protests over living costs and government policy turned violent in France and Italy, while students clashed with police in Albania. Italy answered two days of rioting in Milan with a security decree and 500 more soldiers on 20 October; France imposed partial curfews from 19 October. New marches are called for 24 October, and official travel advice asks visitors to stay away from demonstrations.
One week, three countries: how the October protest wave unfolded
The protests in Europe that filled the news in mid-October 2026 did not start on one day. The Australian public broadcaster ABC, writing on 20 October, dates the first demonstrations of this wave to 17 September in France, 26 September in Spain, 1 October in Belgium, 5 October in Italy, 10 October in Portugal and 12 October in Albania. Between 13 and 18 October the violence grew, as Tirana, several French cities and Milan saw clashes with police, fires and damage to property.
On Saturday 17 October, Al Jazeera described hundreds of thousands of people marching in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal in separate, uncoordinated demonstrations. Police in Brussels used tear gas and water cannon, and tens of thousands marched in Lisbon against living costs and the housing shortage.
Milan’s two days of rioting around Piazza del Duomo
In Milan the trouble began on Saturday 17 October at the edges of an authorised march against the cost of living, called by a group named Italia in Piazza. Euronews reported that the march broke up in Via Broletto and then in Piazza del Duomo, where police used tear gas and water cannon and the M1 and M3 metro stations were closed. That day 25 people were taken to hospital, ten of them police officers, and 50 were detained, half of them minors. Smaller clashes hit Turin and Bologna the same afternoon.
On Sunday 18 October the rioting returned. Euronews reported that mostly black-clad young people threw bottles, ransacked shops, including a supermarket off the cathedral square, and damaged property. Mayor Giuseppe Sala said he had seen smashed windows, looted stores and frightened citizens, and told ANSA he was very worried by what he called a new phenomenon. The weekend followed student protests on 16 October under slogans such as “Money for schools, not for war”, ANSA reported. Road hauliers were also striking over fuel prices, and one group in Calabria said on 20 October it would continue until 27 October, the agency added.
What the Italian government decided after the Milan riots
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X on Saturday that demonstrating is a right but laying cities to waste is not, Euronews reported. On Monday 19 October she chaired a meeting with top security officials, ANSA reported, and that evening Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini announced 500 more soldiers for Milan. The German agency dpa wrote on 20 October that the deployment would initially last three months and that curfews for parts of city centres were being considered. The presidential office, the Quirinale, objected to giving the soldiers judicial police powers, ANSA reported, and the news site Il Post wrote that this provision was left out of the final text.
The cabinet approved the decree on security and juvenile crime on Tuesday 20 October, and Parliament has 60 days to convert it into law, Il Post notes. In a video quoted by ANSA, Meloni said it creates an offence of violent participation in a demonstration, with up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 20,000 euros for anyone who joins a group of five or more and throws stones, firecrackers or sticks. Preventive detention before risky demonstrations will apply to minors too, and parents will pay for damage done by their children. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said promoting a violent group, including online, will carry four to twelve years. Before the cabinet met, Sala had said that the answer “cannot be just a matter of repression”.
Where France and Albania fit in the same week
France has the largest movement. ABC traces it to a teachers’ protest over staff shortages at a high school in south-eastern Paris on 17 September, after which it widened to living costs and public-sector cuts. On 17 October the authorities counted 550,000 marchers and the CGT union 800,000, France 24 reported. From the evening of 19 October prefects imposed partial curfews, in parts of Paris including the République area from 11pm to 6am, and in Lyon and Lille, the Swiss public broadcaster RTS reported.
Albania’s protests have a different target. France 24 reported that clashes in Tirana were in their third day on 15 October, after more than four months of anti-government protests that began over a resort project linked to the family of US President Donald Trump. Students demand lower tuition, better universities and the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. On 20 October Balkan Insight reported that Rama accused Russia and Iran of trying to destabilise Albania without presenting concrete evidence, and threatened violent protesters with the loss of scholarships.
What the protests in Europe share, and where they differ
The common thread named most often is the cost of living. An Al Jazeera explainer of 19 October, built on Eurostat and OECD data, says prices have risen by 68 percent in Italy and 59 percent in France since 2000, while real wages in Italy fell by almost 5 percent between 2000 and 2025. It also points to housing, strained schools and young people who no longer expect to live better than their parents. In Italy the marches are organised by new online groups on Instagram, TikTok and Telegram, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on 20 October.
Defence Minister Guido Crosetto went further on 20 October, calling the rioting the product of a “hybrid war” waged through TikTok and other platforms, without naming who he thought was behind it. In France and Italy the anger is aimed at prices, wages and public services, while in Albania it targets one government; ABC lists corruption and living costs as the causes there. One parallel lies in the response: both Meloni and Rama said families would answer for damage done by minors.
Arrests and damage in Milan: the figures and who gave them
Detention figures changed by the hour, and sources count different things. For Sunday 18 October alone, police sources quoted by ANSA said 271 people were taken to Milan police headquarters, 220 of them minors; 32 were formally arrested, including 23 minors, and 14 officers were injured. Euronews wrote of more than 200 arrests since Saturday, dpa of more than 270 temporary arrests. On 20 October a Milan judge kept four young men in jail, ANSA reported, and the accounts of Italia in Piazza and Movimento 17 ottobre are under investigation.
Estimates of the damage diverge even more. dpa wrote of millions of euros, while ANSA reported an estimate of over half a billion on 19 October and quoted the retailers’ association Confcommercio at about one billion on 20 October. Many shops in Milan’s fashion district stayed closed on Monday 19 October, ANSA reported.
Marches already announced in Italy and France for late October
In Italy, Movimento 17 ottobre wrote on Instagram that it will march every Saturday “until the fall of this thieving government”, ANSA reported, and Il Sole 24 Ore lists eight cities, from Milan and Rome to Bari and Genoa, at 3pm. The Greek daily Proto Thema reported that the Milan gathering on Saturday 24 October is called in Piazza del Duomo. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi was due at a public-order meeting in Milan on 21 October, and Sala said he was worried about the coming weekend.
In France, France 24 listed on 19 October marches by secondary-school students on 22 and 24 October, a yellow-vest “act II” on 24 October with more action on 31 October, and a union strike on 5 November. Elsewhere, officials spoke of risk rather than dates. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild he saw Germany at risk too, Euronews reported on 19 October. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker told the daily Heute on 20 October that the French riots must serve as a warning.
Travelling in Italy, France or Albania while the protests continue
Official travel advice is the first page to read before a trip. The British government’s advice for France, updated on 19 October, says local curfews may be introduced at short notice and asks travellers to check local media and follow local authorities. Its Albania page, updated on 15 October, advises avoiding demonstrations in central Tirana, and France’s foreign ministry asked visitors on 14 October to keep away from the education ministry, the Durrës road and Skanderbeg Square. The British page for Italy says demonstrations can happen with little or no warning in cities and transport strikes are often called at short notice. Russia’s embassy in Paris, in a Telegram post reported by Vedomosti on 20 October, advised Russian citizens to avoid areas of demonstrations and to be especially careful on the days of announced actions.
The pattern of these protests in Europe makes some planning possible. In Milan and the French cities the worst clashes came at the weekend, around the central squares where marches began or ended. If your hotel is near Piazza del Duomo, République or Skanderbeg Square, plan the afternoon of 24 October elsewhere and keep your documents with you. Follow the city’s transport operator for closed stations, sign up for your foreign ministry’s alerts if it offers them, and walk away from any street where a crowd starts to gather.
Practical checklist
- Read your government’s travel advice for Italy, France or Albania on the day you leave and again after you land.
- Check how close your hotel is to Piazza del Duomo, République or Skanderbeg Square and pick another area to spend the day.
- Keep Saturday 24 October flexible in Milan and French cities, when new marches have been called.
- Follow the local transport operator for closed metro stations and the Italian transport ministry for strikes.
- Sign up for your foreign ministry’s travel alerts if it offers them, and save the local emergency numbers.
Questions and answers
Which European countries saw violent protests in October 2026?
The worst clashes in mid-October were in France, Italy and Albania. Belgium and Portugal had large marches on 17 October, with tear gas used in Brussels, and ABC counted six countries touched by the wave by 20 October, including Spain, where it dates the first protests to 26 September.
How did the riots in Milan begin on 17 October?
They broke out on the fringes of an authorised march against the cost of living. Masked, mostly young people then smashed windows and looted shops around the Duomo over two days, and police sources told ANSA that most of those taken in on Sunday were under 18.
Are Italian soldiers being sent to Milan with police powers?
No. The decree of 20 October adds 500 soldiers in Milan, but Il Post reported that judicial police powers for them were dropped after the Quirinale objected. They join the Strade Sicure operation, which already guards sensitive sites in Italian cities.
Are there curfews in Italy or France after the October riots?
In France, prefects imposed partial curfews from the evening of 19 October in parts of Paris, Lyon and Lille, and British advice warns more may follow at short notice. In Italy, dpa reported on 20 October that curfews for parts of city centres were being considered; check local news on the day for the current rules.
Can tourists still travel to Milan, Paris or Tirana during the protests?
As of 20 October 2026, the advice published by the British and French governments and by Russia’s embassy in Paris focuses on avoiding demonstrations, checking local news and following local authorities. Read the latest version for your destination before you travel.