Demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags broke into Rome’s Colosseum as protests over the war in Gaza and Europe’s cost-of-living crisis swept across major cities.
Hundreds of young protesters entered the 2,000-year-old landmark on Saturday, demanding an end to the conflict in Gaza.
They waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans for several minutes before police and security staff restored order and escorted the group from the monument.
Further demonstrations took place elsewhere in Italy. In Milan, luxury retailers including Versace barricaded their storefronts ahead of the marches amid fears of looting.
In Turin, protesters confronted riot police as anger over the rising cost of living added to the unrest.
France saw similarly large demonstrations, with 400,000 people reported to have marched in cities across the country yesterday.
The French movement began last month with students protesting about the quality of education and school buildings. It was later taken up by ‘ultra-Left’ organisations, leading to widespread violent clashes with police.
During the weekend, 1,314 people were arrested across France. The unrest also left 53 officers injured, while 75 fires were reported and 24 shops were looted.
Speaking at a rally launching her presidential campaign this afternoon, far-right politician and National Rally leader Marine Le Pen promised ‘true change’ and said her party would ‘restore the rule of law’—a direct attack on President Macron’s centrist government.
Protesters confront riot police during a nationwide march against the rising cost of living in Turin
On Milan’s Via Montenapoleone, major fashion and luxury brands cover their windows with large wooden panels as a security measure
A French Republican Security Corps officer confronts a protester on the ground in Marseille on Saturday afternoon
A protester kicks away a tear-gas canister as police move to disperse crowds in Paris
A demonstrator wearing a Palestinian flag at Rome’s Colosseum
Elsewhere in Europe, 128 overnight arrests were reported, including 72 minors detained in Barcelona on suspicion of ‘vandalism’ and ‘looting’.
Spanish newspaper El País reported that 23 businesses were looted and 33 fires were started in the city after young people were mobilised by viral videos on TikTok.
In Portugal, police once again cleared tents erected by protesters opposing soaring housing costs overnight on Sunday. Organisers accused officers of using excessive force.
Authorities have repeatedly dismantled protest camps that emerged in Lisbon and Porto in recent weeks as they struggle to contain the demonstrations.
Police said 11 people were injured—eight civilians and three officers—while 171 structures were dismantled.
In Serbia, voting is under way in what is expected to be the country’s most closely contested parliamentary election in more than 14 years. A student-led movement has been campaigning to remove the party of veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic.
The snap vote is the culmination of nearly two years of student-led protests sparked by the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people – a tragedy widely blamed on corruption.
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The disaster triggered some of Serbia’s largest protests since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, with a final pre-election rally in Belgrade on Thursday drawing around 150,000 people to the streets.
The Students’ List, a selection of candidates backed by the largely leaderless movement, now poses the biggest challenge to Vucic’s right-wing populist Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which has dominated politics throughout its tenure.
A water bottle is hurled by a protestor outside the Colusseum in Rome, Italy
A youth protest organised through social media escalated into clashes with police, burning barricades and looting in central Barcelona
Around 100 people, including 27 minors, were arrested after groups threw objects at police, set fire to rubbish containers and damaged shops around Placa de Catalunya, La Rambla and Ronda Universitat
MP candidates from the Students’ List welcome students who had marched to Belgrade and join them in a procession on the eve of the final pre-election rally in Serbia on October 21
A demonstrator sets off a pyrotechnic device during an anti-government protest by students in Tirana, Albania
A demonstrator wearing a gas mask throws an object during an anti-government protest by students in Tirana, Albania
Riot police officers advance behind shields past a massive burst of flames from an active street fire in Tirana, Albania
A burning barricade is seen through the shattered glass of a bus shelter amid unrest in central Barcelona
Several leading opposition parties have opted not to run, instead urging their supporters to back the students.
Albania has also seen extensive protesting, with the Balkan country’s Prime Minister today vowing a tougher line against anti-government protesters calling for his resignation, saying that new fines would be introduced for violent demonstrations.
Edi Rama said a new law would be released this week allowing for fines of more than $550 for ‘anyone who chooses to remain in a crowd’ that is carrying out acts of violence or looting in a public space, or ‘concealing their identity’.
The Socialist Party leader said in a speech broadcast on social media that the clampdown would apply to any type of gathering ‘when it results in property damage’.
Months of anti-government demonstrations have deteriorated in recent days into pitched battles between the security forces and protesters.
The new law would also give police the powers to restrict ‘gatherings’ in certain cases if there was a risk of violence, Rama said.
‘Anyone demanding my resignation is mistaken if they think it can be forced or imposed in any way, but I do not believe that everything they are saying and demanding is wrong,’ he stated.
The law also allows for compensation for small companies affected by protests and action against those who ‘encourage, organise or coordinate the participation of minor school children in rallies’.
Teachers have backed high school students who took part in the protests this year.
Demonstrators have attacked the education ministry and other official buildings, complaining about corruption and demanding better conditions for students and Rama’s resignation.
Police said after Saturday’s protests that 23 people had been formally arrested, 13 others face legal proceedings and 30 people were ‘wanted’.
