Europe Protests: 410,000 March in France as Italy Sends 500 Troops to Milan

More than 400,000 people marched across France on Saturday, October 24, over school funding and the rising cost of living, while police and soldiers faced crowds in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Albania. France's Interior Ministry counted 410,000 marchers, including 110,000 in Paris, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police had arrested almost 1,000 people by the evening, a figure he expected to rise, according to The Guardian's live coverage.

It was the second weekend in a row of mass protests across the continent. The marches are not one coordinated movement, but they share complaints about underfunded schools, low wages, pensions and housing. Governments are answering with heavier policing, protest bans and new penalties, months before several national elections.

Key facts at a glance

• France: 410,000 marchers by official count, about 1,000 arrests and up to 70,000 police on duty, AP reported. Organisers put turnout above 800,000.
• Italy: police made nine arrests and briefly detained 371 people in eight cities, 110 of them minors, Euronews reported. Rome sent an extra 500 soldiers to Milan.
• Spain: about 25,000 people marched in Madrid for pension protections, according to Spanish authorities.
• Albania: 2,500 police were deployed in Tirana as student-led protests against Prime Minister Edi Rama's government continued.
• Next: French student leaders meet Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Monday, and "yellow vest" organisers have called more rallies for October 31.

How a school protest became a continental wave

The French movement started small. What began last month as a protest over staff shortages at one high school southeast of Paris spread to students demanding better schools and workers seeking higher wages and pensions, according to AP.

The complaints have numbers behind them. Education Ministry figures cited by AP show public middle and high schools lost 15.4 million teaching hours in the 2024-25 school year because absent teachers were not replaced, or 7.5% of scheduled teaching time. Energy prices in France were 21.3% higher in September than a year earlier, pushing overall inflation to 3.1%, according to the national statistics agency INSEE.

The previous Saturday, October 17, turned violent. More than 550,000 people marched in France, Prime Minister Lecornu said 1,200 people were arrested and 150 police officers were hurt, and a fire largely destroyed the more than 140-year-old town hall in Limoges, Al Jazeera reported. AP says some 3,000 shops across France were damaged or looted that weekend. Nuñez later admitted police had lost control in some cities and offered to resign. President Emmanuel Macron refused.

The same day, rioters looted stores in central Milan, Brussels police used tear gas and water cannon on protesters, and tens of thousands marched in Lisbon over housing.

France: bigger police presence, smaller damage

This weekend the French government changed tactics. Nuñez announced a nationwide deployment of up to 70,000 officers, backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles and water cannon. Authorities banned rallies in cities including Lyon, Nice and Montpellier, and moved the Paris march to the city's southeastern edge, away from neighbourhoods hit the week before.

Daily life was disrupted. Paris closed 24 metro stations, and the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Picasso Museum and the Grand Palais were shut. Art Basel, the contemporary art fair, opened to the public on Friday only and cancelled its weekend programme. The NFL closed its fan venue in Paris on Saturday, a day before the New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers play the league's first regular-season game in France at the Stade de France.

The Paris march itself was largely peaceful, with brass bands and families. Near its end at Porte de Vincennes, masked groups threw bottles and stones, and police answered with tear gas, water cannon and stun grenades. Paris police reported 65 arrests and more than 3,000 checks in the capital. Nuñez said about 500 people identified as rioters had gathered at the rear of the march.

Two people were seriously injured, Nuñez said, including a 20-year-old man in Toulouse who had his fingers blown off. Still, he said looting was "far smaller" in scale than a week earlier.

Turnout figures varied widely. In Marseille, police counted 17,000 marchers while the CGT union estimated 100,000. Toulouse authorities counted 26,500.

What students are asking for

Student groups have a 10-point plan, AP reports. It calls for 250,000 more places in higher education, an end to selection through Parcoursup, the national university admissions system, more teachers, and repairs to schools. They also want an extra 200 euros ($224) a month in student grants and a rent freeze in public student housing.

Macron met 20 student representatives for two and a half hours on Friday. Nathanael Combary, president of the campaign group High School Renewal, called the president "attentive", but he and other leaders urged students to keep protesting until concrete measures are announced.

Italy, Spain and Portugal: troops, pensions and rent

Italy took the hardest line outside France. Premier Giorgia Meloni's government sent 500 more soldiers to Milan, added drone surveillance and railway station checks, and announced tougher penalties for minors, whom police say made up much of last week's violence. Police carried out more than 150 searches in Milan, Monza and about 20 other cities on Saturday morning, Euronews reported. The October 17-18 unrest had led to 45 arrests, 34 of them minors.

Clashes still broke out. Protesters threw bottles and firecrackers at police in Rome and Florence, police used tear gas in Turin, and a small group tried to force its way into the Colosseum before guards ushered them out. Italian grievances range from living costs and low wages to military spending; the national march in Rome ran under the slogan "Keep Italy out of the war".

In Spain, about 25,000 pensioners and supporters marched from Atocha station to the Gran Vía in Madrid. They want pension rises linked to actual inflation, a minimum pension equal to the minimum wage and an end to the gender pension gap. About 6.8 million Spaniards receive a state pension, and the issue is central to a snap parliamentary election due in a few weeks.

In Lisbon, housing is the main demand. House prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, and rents for new leases have risen nearly as much, according to Al Jazeera. In Brussels, shops boarded up their windows ahead of fresh protests, after weeks of student anger over university registration fees.

Albania: a separate fight over a resort and corruption

Albania's protests have different roots. They began in May over a luxury hotel project linked to US President Donald Trump's family, Euronews reported, and have grown into a broader push against corruption and for Rama's resignation.

On Saturday, the 12th day of student-led protests, thousands rallied in Tirana. Authorities deployed 2,500 police, who used tear gas and water cannon. Kei Brisku, head of the Albanian Rehabilitation Centre for Trauma and Torture, told The Guardian that nine protesters had been badly wounded by rubber bullets and called their "indiscriminate use against crowds" unacceptable.

Rama, in power for 13 years, has refused to resign. He warned those who commit violence that "the response from the state" would "be prolonged and persistent", and has blamed "foreign actors", naming Russia and Iran, for online misinformation.

The other side of the story

Governments argue the crackdown targets a violent minority, not peaceful marchers. Nuñez said Saturday's marches "passed off well" until police faced "an extremely elevated level of violence" from "ultra-left" groups. Last weekend, Meloni wrote on X: "Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not."

Critics say the response goes too far. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the radical-left presidential candidate who marched in Paris, accused police of "shooting indiscriminately" into the crowd. Unions call the protest bans violations of constitutionally protected free expression. In Rome, Riccardo Ponzio, national president of an Italian far-right student group, said most young people "do not accept being represented by those who use issues and needs to devastate entire cities."

Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at HEC Paris, told Al Jazeera the protests are "not a single movement" but several at once with shared grievances, including underfunded education, rising living costs and uncertain job prospects for graduates.

What it means for you

If you are travelling to France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium or Albania in the coming weeks, expect weekend disruption in big cities. The UK Foreign Office updated its France travel advice on October 22, warning that demonstrations may take place at short notice, may disrupt local transport and could lead to localised curfews.

On protest days, museums may close at short notice and metro stations near march routes can shut. Saturday showed that trouble tends to start late in the day at the end of march routes, not during the main procession.

For businesses, last weekend's looting of about 3,000 French shops is a reminder to check insurance cover and local police guidance. For investors, the unrest adds pressure on governments already managing tight budgets: Moody's has just left France's credit rating unchanged, and Euronews quoted economists calling it a brief respite rather than a vote of confidence.

What happens next

• Monday, October 26: French student leaders resume talks with Lecornu on changes including Parcoursup reform.
• Saturday, October 31: "yellow vest" organisers have called another day of rallies in France to defend the right to protest.
• Mélenchon's warning: he says protests will repeat every week until the government concedes.
• Elections: Spain votes in a snap election within weeks, and France chooses Macron's successor in May 2027. Alemanno expects the protests to be "at the centre of the political conversation" in the year ahead.

The bottom line

Saturday showed that Europe's protest wave is not fading, even as governments flood the streets with police and soldiers. Damage was smaller than a week earlier, but the underlying demands on schools, pensions and housing remain unanswered.

Three things to do now:

1. Check official travel advice and local transport sites before any weekend trip to Paris, Milan, Rome, Madrid, Lisbon, Brussels or Tirana, and plan around October 31.
2. Keep away from the end points of marches in the late afternoon and evening, when most clashes have happened.
3. Watch Monday's French student talks and the Spanish campaign, the two clearest signs of whether governments will offer concessions or keep tightening security.