Pro-Palestinian demonstrators breached Rome’s Colosseum while protests over the Gaza war and Europe’s worsening cost-of-living pressures spread through major cities across the continent.
Hundreds of young protesters entered the nearly 2,000-year-old landmark on Saturday, demanding an end to the conflict in Gaza.
Carrying Palestinian flags, they chanted slogans inside the ancient amphitheatre for several minutes before police and security personnel restored order and led the group outside.
Demonstrations were also held elsewhere in Italy. In Milan, luxury retailers including Versace protected their storefronts with barricades amid fears of looting.
In Turin, protesters confronted riot police as anger mounted over soaring living costs and the wider economic strain facing households.
France experienced similarly intense unrest, with about 400,000 people taking part in marches across the country yesterday.
The French protest movement began last month with students raising concerns about the quality of education and the condition of school buildings. It has since been joined by groups described as ultra-Left organisations, leading to violent confrontations with police in several cities.
Authorities said 1,314 people were arrested across France over the weekend. Fifty-three officers were injured, while 75 fires were reported and 24 shops were looted during the unrest.
Marine Le Pen used a rally launching her presidential campaign this afternoon to promise “true change”. The National Rally leader also pledged that her party would “restore the rule of law”, delivering a sharp criticism of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist administration.
Riot police confront demonstrators during a nationwide protest over the rising cost of living in Turin
Luxury and fashion houses on Milan’s Via Montenapoleone have shielded their windows with large wooden panels as a security precaution
A French Republican Security Corps officer confronts a protester during Saturday afternoon’s unrest in Marseille
A protester kicks a tear-gas canister away as officers move to break up crowds in Paris
A demonstrator draped in a Palestinian flag inside Rome’s Colosseum
Other parts of Europe also saw overnight unrest. In Barcelona, 128 people were arrested, including 72 minors, on suspicion of vandalism and looting.
Spanish newspaper El País reported that 23 businesses were looted and 33 fires were started after young people used TikTok to organise their mobilisation.
In Portugal, police once again removed tents set up by demonstrators protesting against rapidly rising housing costs during an overnight operation on Sunday. Organisers accused officers of using excessive force.
Authorities have repeatedly dismantled protest camps in Lisbon and Porto in recent weeks, as communities across Europe express growing frustration over inflation, housing and the broader cost-of-living crisis.
Police said 11 people were injured—eight civilians and three officers—and that 171 structures had been removed.
In Serbia, meanwhile, voting is under way in what is expected to be the country’s most closely fought parliamentary election in more than 14 years. A student-led protest movement has been campaigning to remove the party led by veteran politician Aleksandar Vučić.
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 have taken part in the protests this year.
In recent protests, 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’.