ALMOST entire Europe witnessed some of its worst riots in recent years last week, ringing alarm bells for governments and residents. Violent clashes erupted across England, France, Albania, Italy, Portugal and Belgium on 17 October 2026, as protests over rising living costs, housing affordability, declining public services and education standards turned violent. Paris was worst hit, with normal life paralyzed, hundreds of vehicles burnt and extensive damage to public buildings and private property. The protests, marked by massive public participation, appeared well-coordinated and driven by widespread economic and social grievances. High inflation, soaring food and fuel prices and geopolitical disruptions affecting energy supplies have further strained household budgets. In France, reportedly one in three people ends each month with an overdrawn bank account. The immediate trigger was the eviction of an 87-year-old woman after an investment fund increased her rent by 230%; she later died in hospital. Protesters demanded rent freezes, protection against evictions and regulation of short-term rentals.
Similar pleas were made across the Iberian border in Portugal, when hundreds gathered in central Lisbon. Portuguese housing prices more than doubled between 2015 and 2024, roughly twice as fast as the EU average, according to official data. Squeezed household budgets were also at the center of marches in Milan, Italy. Masked rioters seemingly later seized on the protests to throw stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police and setting fire to barricades made from bar tables. There were also clashes between police and protesters in Turin and Bologna.
Meanwhile, protests in Albania against the Prime Minister, Edi Rama, entered their seventh day. Demonstrators have said they are unhappy with perceived corruption, lack of jobs and poor education standards. The education protests in France began in September, a week after the start of the school year. Protests soon began springing up in Portugal and Belgium. In France, demonstrations reached a high point as about half a million people turned out to protest against the surging cost of living and join the students demanding better conditions at their schools. That day there were also marches in Belgium, Portugal and Italy. In Albania, protests have been taking place since the summer, triggered by a luxury coastal development backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In France, the government has said it will deploy 3,000 more substitute teachers to deal with shortages and include students in decision-making for schools. It also scrapped plans to increase some university registration fees, which it had announced for next year’s budget. Fuel protests in mid-September led to an announcement by the Élysée that the government would increase petrol subsidies for certain industries. Spain’s Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, attempted to pass emergency housing legislation that included a ban on evictions until 2030 and the regulation of temporary lettings and lettings by room. The legislation’s defeat at the hands of right wing and far-right parties in parliament led Sánchez to call a snap election for 29 November, as he told the public he needed a “broader progressive majority” to get new reforms through. Housing campaigners have vowed to keep up the pressure on politicians to address soaring costs, announcing plans for a general strike on 11 November.
French President, Macron said a distinction must be drawn between what he described as genuine, peaceful demonstrators who were making demands over the cost of living and the education system and others who “destroy, ransack and loot”. His interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, appeared to signal the French government was not willing to concede further, as he blamed “far-left” protesters and “criminals who looted and ransacked” buildings across France. The country will go to the polls in April 2027. France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, in the mean while has called for “very limited” and “localised” curfews. Meanwhile, the protests continue. In Paris, about a dozen demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Louvre on Monday, leaving tourists milling outside the world’s most-visited museum.
Across the Atlantic in USA, according to a leading global watchdog, US democracy is now more imperiled than at any point since the 1960s. Press freedom is under threat on many fronts – from criminal investigations to politicized regulation, frivolous lawsuits and catastrophic funding cuts to public media. With the midterm elections approaching, these attacks are accelerating. Most recently, Trump banned CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, in retaliation for “negative” coverage. While a federal judge has restored White House access for now, saying the ban is likely unconstitutional, the case is still in the courts. At the same time, Trump is using the FCC – which is supposed to be an independent regulator in the public interest – to settle political scores: The FCC targeted ABC after Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about the First Lady and Trump suggested that the agency should punish the host of Meet the Press for making a factual statement the president disliked.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, fired the editor of Stars and Stripes newspaper for “insubordination” shortly after they reported on a suicide attempt aboard the USS Lincoln, the Navy aircraft carrier, reported to be in dire straits after 10 months at sea. Together these efforts make it more difficult to get fact-based reporting to US voters ahead of critical elections that will determine control of Congress and the future of Trump’s agenda. Making matters worse, many of the US’s largest news organizations are now owned by billionaires whose personal and business interests may imperil the outlets’ editorial independence. Media critics have observed how CBS News, now owned by a Trump ally, has softened its coverage; CNN could be taken over by the same billionaire; and Jeff Bezos has imposed extreme staff cuts and editorial interventions at the Washington Post.
—The writer is Former Civil Servant and Consultant (ILO) & International Organisation for Migration and author of seven books.
