Clashes in Paris, where new stores were looted, intrusion attempts in Lyon, Marseille and near Nantes... The day after massive violence, incidents broke out again on Sunday, particularly in the capital.
A situation which echoes the mobilizations observed elsewhere in Europe, where anger is expressed around various concerns, from the cost of living to housing difficulties, including corruption and political demands.
Le Figaro takes stock of the situation.
“Entire cities taken hostage,” says Giorgia Meloni
In Italy, clashes took place between young people and the police for the second consecutive day on Sunday in Milan, the economic heart of Italy, where vandals threw bottles and ransacked stores in the central cathedral district. The violence began the day before on the sidelines of a demonstration against the high cost of living. In total, police in the Lombardy metropolis have arrested more than 200 people since Saturday, according to the Ansa news agency.
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala (center left) said he saw “broken windows, looted stores and frightened citizens.” “What happened here is what we see in many cities around the world,” he told Italian news agency Ansa on Sunday. “I am very worried because this is a new phenomenon, which also has its origins in an international context and therefore feeds on itself.”
Giorgia Meloni on Saturday called the rioters “thugs who are exploiting the protests to sow chaos, attack those who guarantee security and take entire cities hostage.” “Protesting is a right. Ravaging our cities is not,” she wrote on X.
“Pure and simple violence (…) to destabilize our society”, according to the Belgian Minister of the Interior
In Belgium, hundreds of people demonstrated on Saturday in Brussels and Liège, gatherings marked by excesses attributed to “thugs” by the authorities. In Brussels, the police had to use tear gas late in the afternoon, in front of the Stock Exchange in the city center, to disperse young people, some of whom were throwing projectiles, according to an AFPTV journalist.
There were around ten arrests for disturbing public order, according to the police in the Belgian capital. The headquarters of the Brussels PS federation was vandalized, which local party figure Ahmed Laaouej attributed to “a minority of brainless people” mingling with the protesting youth. Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin denounced “pure and simple violence, organized and repeated to destabilize our society”.
In Albania, violent demonstrations to push the head of government to resign
In Albania, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at midday on Sunday in front of the Ministry of Education in Tirana, calling on the head of government to resign. While the Albanian capital has been the scene of violent demonstrations since Tuesday involving thousands of people protesting against study conditions in universities, high registration fees and corruption.
The clashes spread to the main boulevards and squares where demonstrators threw stones, Molotov cocktails and set off fireworks, while the police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas, according to an AFP journalist.
Since Tuesday, 272 people have been injured, including 169 police officers, the government said. The United States Embassy called on Saturday evening on X for “calm” and “restraint on both sides,” urging citizens to “exercise their right to protest peacefully, without violent riots.”
“The Portuguese social class is under attack, particularly its right to housing”
In Portugal, dozens of tents were set up on Saturday by demonstrators in the center of Lisbon to demand measures to curb housing and living costs, an echo of the protests that have agitated neighboring Spain for weeks. The participants, mostly young people, had promised to stay all night, hundreds of them singing songs while sitting around the statue of King Pedro IV, which dominates the square, AFP journalists noted.
“The Portuguese social class which pays taxes, the one which makes this country run, is attacked and loses its rights, in particular its right to housing,” lamented Elena Costa, a 46-year-old social worker. “So we are all here together trying to explain that we are suffocating,” she added. Housing prices in Portugal increased by 124% between 2015 and 2024, around twice as fast as the EU average, according to official data.
Rising cost of living denounced in Greece
Finally, in Greece, student demonstrations broke out in Athens on October 13 to denounce the difficulties of access to housing and the rising cost of living.
“The money is not enough to last until the end of the month,” complains to Reuters Eleftheria Giannoula, 21, president of the Students' Union of the Agricultural University of Athens, who also points out the high cost of rent, food and education. The student also expresses her solidarity with “young students from Spain and France”.
