Hundreds of Thousands March Across Europe
France's government counted 410,000 marchers against the cost of living and the state of public schools, while pensioners marched in Madrid, renters in Lisbon, antiwar and student groups in Italy, and anti-government crowds in Tirana.
About 410,000 people marched in cities across France against rising living costs and the condition of public schools, according to the Interior Ministry; unions put the number at about double. Paris police counted about 110,000 in the capital, where the march was routed to the city's southeastern edge. The protests began four weeks ago with high-school students demanding repairs to run-down buildings, more teachers and an end to the Parcoursup university admissions platform.
Most marches were calm, but clashes broke out at the end of several. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police arrested almost 1,000 people and that "ultra-left" groups threw projectiles and fireworks at officers; he said about 500 people at the back of the Paris march were "identified as rioters." Police used tear gas and water cannon in Paris, Lyon and other cities.
Separate protests took place elsewhere. In Madrid, about 25,000 people marched for inflation-linked pensions. In Lisbon, the demand was affordable housing. In Italy, police said nine people were arrested and 371 briefly detained in eight cities. In Albania, a 12th day of student-led protests against Prime Minister Edi Rama's government drew thousands to Tirana.
Paris — Hundreds of thousands of people marched in France against rising living costs and the state of the country's schools, the second straight weekend of nationwide protests, as separate demonstrations over pensions, housing, war and government filled streets in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Albania.
France
The Interior Ministry put turnout at 410,000 nationwide; trade unions estimated about twice that. Paris police counted about 110,000 marchers in the capital, roughly the same as the weekend before. Authorities moved the Paris route to the city's southeastern edge, away from central neighborhoods damaged the previous weekend, closed 24 metro stations and put more than 70,000 police on the streets.
The protests began four weeks ago with high-school students in Paris. They say their buildings are dilapidated, their teachers overworked and their classrooms packed, and they want renovations and the end of Parcoursup, the university admissions platform introduced in 2018. Workers and unions joined them over the cost of living. President Emmanuel Macron met 20 student representatives at the Élysée Palace the day before the marches. Nathanael Combary, president of the campaign group High School Renewal, said Macron had been "attentive" and that talks would continue with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on October 26, but he urged students to keep marching.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the marches "passed off well" in cities but that officers then faced "an extremely elevated level of violence" from "ultra-left" groups who threw projectiles and fired fireworks at police. In Paris, he said, "several thousand radical activists gathered at the rear of the march, including about 500 individuals identified as rioters," and clashes lasted about two hours. He said police had arrested almost 1,000 people, a number he expected to rise, and that two people were seriously injured, including a 20-year-old man in Toulouse who lost fingers. He said looting was on a "far smaller" scale than the week before. He did not say how either injury happened or who caused it. Euronews reported a higher total of about 2,400 arrests across France.
Spain, Portugal and Italy
In Madrid, about 25,000 people, by the authorities' count, marched from Atocha station to the Gran Vía. Their demands include tying pension increases to inflation, raising the minimum pension to the level of the minimum wage, closing the gap between men's and women's pensions, and protecting the public system from privatization, ahead of a snap parliamentary election. In Lisbon, marchers held up keys to demand affordable housing.
In Italy, thousands marched in Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Bologna and Florence. A separate antiwar march in Rome, against rearmament and Italy's role in wars, briefly clashed with police near Piazza della Repubblica until water cannon pushed the crowd back. Italian police said they made nine arrests and briefly detained 371 people in eight cities, 110 of them minors.
Albania
In Tirana, thousands joined the 12th day of student-led protests. They began over a planned resort backed by the family of President Trump and championed by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and have grown into calls for Prime Minister Edi Rama to resign; teachers, doctors and unions joined this weekend. Police used tear gas and water cannon, and authorities said more than 300 protesters and police had been injured. Rama, in power for 13 years, has refused to resign. He has offered to discuss what he called students' "legitimate concerns" but ruled out talks with those who use violence.