Barricades were set ablaze to block roads as people took to the streets to protest the rising cost of living.
Europe witnessed scenes of widespread devastation this weekend, as rioters smashed shopfronts, set fires, torched cars and clashed with police. French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday voiced the public’s “anger” and “shame” over rioting and looting during nationwide protests where almost 2,400 people were arrested. They were demonstrating against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools. In Paris, riot police deployed tear gas and water cannon against crowds as groups set fires in the streets and torched vehicles. At least one restaurant was gutted in the blaze. During clashes, 60 law enforcement officers were injured, including two who were taken to hospital unconscious.
Dislodged cobblestones, shattered storefronts and broken glass littered the area around Paris’ Place de la République on Sunday. Paris police said 855 people were arrested in the capital region. Prosecutors said 557 remained in police custody.
Angry crowds also swarmed the streets of various other towns and cities in France, some dressed in black and wearing masks and balaclavas. Authorities estimated Saturday’s marches had a turnout of about 550,000, while organisers put it at 800,000.
Elsewhere, a fire believed to have been started deliberately engulfed the 19th-century City Hall in Limoges, central France, causing the roof to collapse and leaving the historic building almost destroyed. Officials have yet to confirm whether the structure is at risk of total collapse.
An estimated 1,500 shops and businesses were looted and destroyed while France’s interior ministry said about 1,000 police officers were injured on Saturday, seven of them seriously.
Thousands have been arrested in France following the riots (Image: Getty)
Flames engulfed the historic 19th-century City Hall in Limoges (Image: Getty)
Widespread protests broke out across Europe this weekend (Image: Reach PLC)
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French police “lost control” in some cities
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police “lost control” of protests in some cities over the weekend, according to the AFP news agency.
Nuñez also said there had been a “lack of anticipation” ahead of the violence and that he offered his resignation to Emmanuel Macron because he “felt responsible for everything that happened”. However, Macron refused his offer to step down.
“Those who looted will have to pay for the damage, and those who sought to bring down the Republic will be held accountable,” Macron said in a televised address to the nation. He denounced “unrestrained violence” by “insurrectionist elements from radical far-left groups, joined by numerous criminals”.
US President Donald Trump posted “France is burning!” on his Truth Social platform, apparently linking the unrest to “the immigration of people from an entirely different world”.
“Close your borders and take control, before it is too late!” he wrote.
French authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting and have repeatedly attributed some of the violence to “radical far-left groups” and other people who joined to loot.
A row of torched cars in Paris (Image: Getty)
Milan’s Piazza del Duomo transforms into a war zone
The rioting has spread across Europe, with Milan’s Piazza del Duomo, usually bustling with shoppers visiting the city’s luxury shopping arcade, transformed into a war zone as rioters clashed with police and properties were set on fire.
Mostly black-clad protesters hurled bottles, stones and paving blocks at riot police and ransacked stores. Images of the aftermath showed a severely damaged carabinieri car. Officals say protesters released smoke bombs and firecrackers, and overturned tables and chairs in public areas.
Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds. At least two police officers were injured and about 50 demonstrators, including many minors, were detained, the LaPresse news agency reported. More than 60 protesters were taken to a police station for checks.
The clashes had echoes of the violence erupting in fellow Itlaian cities including Bologna, Brescia, Bergamo and Turin where officials say a total of 28 protesters were arrested.
Protestors ransacked stores and set properties alight in Milan (Image: Getty)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has condemned the violence and announced a government meeting on Monday to discuss how to address the situation.
In a social media post, Ms Meloni, who is facing an election next year, wrote: “Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not.”
She hit out at “hooligans who exploit demonstrations to sow chaos, attack those responsible for ensuring security and hold entire cities hostage”.
Milan’s centre-left mayor, Giuseppe Sala, said that while “the reasons for the protests were understandable, the violence against law enforcement and serious damage to the city are not justifiable”.
She added: “I renew my request to the opposition: do not be ambiguous on this. Condemn this violence unequivocally and issue a clear call for all demonstrations to be peaceful.”
Protests have raged in Albania for nearly a week (Image: Getty)
Protests in Albania enter a sixth day
Protests have continued across Albania for nearly a week, with violent demonstrations erupting in the capital, Tirana, since Tuesday. Protesters are demanding action over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption.
Hundreds gathered outside the Education Ministry at noon, chanting “Rama, resign” as tensions mounted during a standoff with police.
Hours-long violent clashes saw protesters set fire to a police station and the entrance to the interior ministry, smash windows, including those at the headquarters of the governing Socialist party.
Rioters hurled molotov cocktails and pyrotechnic devices at a police station in Tirana on Saturday night, injuring 14 officers, a futher two were injured during the widespread protests. The force responded with rubber bullets and tear gas, according to AFP.
A spokesperson for the European Commission said “those responsible should be held to account through due process”.
Protests that began over the summer have escalated into a broader anti-government movement, with demonstrators calling for the prime minister’s resignation amid corruption allegations involving his administration.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Lisbon on Saturday (Image: Getty)
Tens of thousands protesters march through Lisbon
In Portugal, thousands of protesters marched through Lisbon on Saturday, against living costs and the ongoing housing crisis, according to figures from Portugal’s biggest union, CGTP.
House prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, while rents for new leases have increased nearly as much. Protesters say their leaders are “out of touch” with the problem.
Portugal’s inflation rate rose to 3.6% in September, driven by higher food and fuel prices, with fuel costs surging 15% year-on-year amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
In Belgium’s capital, Brussels, rioters launched missiles at police and set fires prompting the police to fire tear gas and water cannons. In Liège, a smaller city east of Brussels, police also used water cannons to disperse demonstrators.
Sky News viewers fume ‘it should be illegal’ in furious Labour bias row
The complaints followed Yvette Cooper’s appearance on the programme.
Yvette Cooper was interviewed by Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika on Sky News (Image: Sky News)
Sky News was flooded with complaints after Health Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared on the programme on Sunday (October 18). Cooper, who is married to Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls, discussed various issues as she was interviewed by Ayesha Hazarika. Hazarika questioned the Labour politician about the current investigation into whether the NHS records of a man killed by a tiger at Yorkshire Wildlife Park last week were accessed inappropriately. They also spoke about the war in Ukraine, with the politician revealing that the government has taken a “different view” to the crisis than that of US President Donald Trump.
But it was the Sky News Sunday Morning presenter that sparked outrage, as Hazarika is a Labour peer.
One argued that it should be “illegal” for someone working for a political party to be interviewed by another who openly supports that party.
Others believe that politicians should not be permitted to pursue careers in broadcast journalism, as it undermines impartiality.
Additional viewers were confused by Cooper addressing Hazarika as a “journalist”.
“This is mental. It is completely and utterly mental. This should literally be illegal. It is not unreasonable to ban politicians from being broadcast journalists FFS,” one fumed on X.
The bias accusations continued, as another said: “It’s a joke. Nobody from either House should be presenting news/politics on any channel, go do your own podcast if you must.”
A third added: “She’s a Labour peer and should not be interviewing her!! Typical mainstream drivel.”
A fourth weighed in: “Ayesha is a journalist? Which paper or news outlet did she do her apprenticeship or grad scheme on? Where did she do her NCTJ, her undergrad or post grad degree or qualification? I know she has a law degree & did a comedy course but the journalism training must have passed me by.”
Someone else claimed: “If this was a Tory MP being interviewed by a Tory peer on GB News, there would be outrage of impartiality from everyone.”
During the interview, Cooper said people “need to be sacked” if patient records were accessed wrongly. William Chapman was mauled to death last week after he jumped into a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park.
Shortly after, Yorkshire Ambulance Service Trust said there may have been two separate incidents involving two members of staff who accessed, or attempted to access, medical information “without a legitimate reason to do so” following the incident.
Cooper said: “I take this extremely seriously. I know there’s a specific investigation going into that case, but we just need to be absolutely clear.
“No member of NHS staff should be accessing records that they do not need to see for medical care and reasons, simply for something to do with voyeurism or what is in the news, or any of that kind of reason.”
She added: “We have to have firm action against these people. Should be if there are breaches, then people actually need to be sacked.”