Protests Spread Beyond France to Milan, Lisbon and Brussels as Cost-of-Living Anger Grows

Protests over living costs, housing and school funding spread beyond France this weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, marches in Milan, Bologna, Brussels, Liège and Lisbon drew crowds into the streets, according to Al Jazeera, AFP, AP and Reuters. By Sunday a protest tent camp had gone up in central Lisbon. Several marches ended in clashes with police. Albania also saw a fifth day of anti-government rioting.

The demonstrations are separate and not coordinated. Al Jazeera described them as “separate, uncoordinated demonstrations,” and Axios reported earlier this month that the student protests “aren’t one coordinated European movement.” The grievances overlap, though: rising prices, unaffordable rent and underfunded schools. France remains by far the largest of the protests. The Boston Report has followed the French unrest since it began, including the violence that followed President Emmanuel Macron’s call for calm.

France: Over 550,000 Marched Saturday, Arrest Totals Differ

The French movement started in mid-September at Saint-Exupéry High School in Créteil, outside Paris. Teachers went on strike over staff shortages, and students then blockaded the school, Newsweek reported. It spread nationwide and grew to include anger over prices. The national statistics agency INSEE reported household energy prices up 21.3% year on year in September and petrol up 25.7%.

On Saturday, Oct. 17, more than 550,000 people demonstrated across France, according to the Interior Ministry. Officials have given different arrest and injury totals. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said 1,200 people were arrested and 150 police officers were hurt, according to Al Jazeera. Newsweek reported that Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez put the figures at 1,800 arrests and more than 500 police officers and firefighters injured. Shops were looted in cities including Paris, Marseille, Nice, Lille and Toulouse, AFP reported. A fire largely destroyed the town hall in Limoges, which is over 140 years old. Earlier, on Oct. 13, the “Act V” marches drew 161,500 people by official count and 480,000 by organisers’ count.

Italy: Milan March Ends in Clashes

A march against wars and rising living costs in central Milan on Saturday started out peacefully. It ended with masked protesters throwing stones and paving blocks at riot police and burning barricades made from bar tables, the Guardian and Al Jazeera reported. Police used water cannon and tear gas. Italy’s LaPresse news agency reported that at least two officers were injured and about 50 demonstrators were detained, many of them minors. Police in Bologna also reported stone-throwing alongside peaceful rallies. No official crowd figure for Milan was published.

Belgium: Brussels and Liège

Belgium has seen weeks of student protests against higher university registration fees. On Saturday, police in Brussels used tear gas and water cannon on protesters, saying they had thrown objects and set fires. Police also used water cannon in Liège, Al Jazeera reported. They did not give a turnout figure. Axios reported on Oct. 7 that police had made at least 139 arrests in Liège since protests began there on Oct. 1.

Portugal: Lisbon March and a Tent Camp

The CGTP, Portugal’s largest union, called Saturday’s march in Lisbon over wages, pensions, public services and housing. The union said tens of thousands of people took part, Newsweek reported. No police estimate was reported. Afterward, hundreds of people set up an overnight tent camp in Rossio Square, the Guardian reported. It echoed the camp in Madrid and a smaller one in Porto that police later cleared. Portuguese house prices rose 124% between 2015 and 2024, about twice the EU average, according to official data cited by the Guardian. No arrests or injuries were reported in Lisbon.

Albania and Spain

In Albania, students angry about university conditions and tuition joined an existing anti-government movement that is calling on Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign. On Saturday, protesters in Tirana threw rocks, petrol bombs and fireworks at police. Police answered with tear gas and water cannon and, for the first time in the unrest, rubber bullets, the Guardian reported. Police said 167 people were arrested and 132 officers injured, according to Newsweek. Rama has ruled out resigning.

In Spain, hundreds of people have occupied Madrid’s Puerta del Sol for a third week. The occupation began after the eviction and later death of 87-year-old María del Carmen Abascal. Madrid’s regional government has taken legal action to clear the camp. After congress voted down the government’s emergency housing measures, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called a snap general election for the end of November, the Guardian reported.

Why It Matters

The protests come ahead of a busy run of national elections. Votes are scheduled within the next 12 months in Spain, France, Italy and Poland, as Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at HEC Paris, noted to Al Jazeera. Alemanno said early mobilisation could follow in Greece, Germany and Austria. That is a forecast, not something that has happened. The U.S. embassies in France, Albania and Belgium have issued protest warnings to Americans at different points this month, Newsweek reported. Travelers from Massachusetts should check those alerts.

Reactions

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X: “Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not.” Milan 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.”

Lecornu, visiting officers in Paris, said: “It’s a miracle the toll wasn’t higher.” Macron said on X that those responsible would be “prosecuted and punished.”

Portugal’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Carlos Abreu Amorim said the “government will not yield to shouts from the street.” Prime Minister Luís Montenegro warned against “importing into Portugal climates of instability and protest that, in fact, have no support in Portuguese society.” At the Lisbon camp, protester Elena Costa told reporters: “We are all here together to try to explain that we are suffocating.”

In Washington, President Donald Trump attributed the unrest in France to immigration in a Truth Social post on Sunday, and Vice President JD Vance shared footage of the Limoges fire on X. Newsweek noted that neither offered evidence linking the protests to immigration. Alemanno told Al Jazeera: “France is the epicentre of this movement … and there are signs now that this is spreading beyond France.”

Sources

• Al Jazeera (with AFP, AP, Reuters): Cost of living protests hit Belgium, Italy, Portugal and France (Oct. 17, 2026)
• The Guardian: Protests spread to Lisbon and Milan (Oct. 18, 2026)
• Newsweek: Europe map shows countries hit by protests this week (Oct. 18, 2026)
• Axios: Student protest unrest spreads across Europe (Oct. 7, 2026)