France Orders Curfews, Weighs Emergency as Protests Flare
PARIS -- France’s prime minister ordered partial curfews in some cities on Monday after admitting police “lost control” during the country’s worst unrest in years, as a wave of cost-of-living protests that began in French high schools spread across Europe, triggering violent clashes from Brussels to Milan, Tirana and Lisbon.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting, said he was “fully resolved to restore public order” and had asked regional authorities to impose “local and partial” curfews where needed.
He ruled out a blanket curfew on entire cities such as Paris, but said a state of emergency could be declared if deemed necessary, adding that partial curfews appeared “more appropriate” at this stage. He did not specify which cities or what form the measures would take.
The admission of failure came from Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, who told French radio that intelligence had projected 200,000 demonstrators nationwide, but more than
500,000 turned out on Saturday, with peaceful protests “hijacked” by organized groups of rioters.
“You couldn’t look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and say we hadn’t lost control,” Nuñez said.
He offered his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron, who refused it and instead tasked him with implementing “new operational methods” and ensuring transparency over planning failures.
Authorities said nearly 2,400 people were arrested, about 70% of them adults, and almost 1,000 police and gendarmes were injured. An estimated 2,000 shops were ransacked, public buildings including a town hall in Limoges were set ablaze, and the Louvre was forced to close on Monday after protesters blocked its entrance.
The French explosion is the most dramatic expression of a broader European rupture over purchasing power, housing and the erosion of public services.
On Saturday, protests in Italy turned violent in Milan, Turin, Bologna, Brescia and Bergamo, where authorities reported more than 150 arrests, many of them minors.
In Milan, about 5,000 people joined a cost-of-living march before masked groups broke away to attack shops and police, prompting tear gas deployments in the cathedral square.
In Rome, thousands marched from the Colosseum to the education ministry under a union-led mobilization demanding higher wages, affordable housing and a redirection of spending from armaments to social needs; organizers announced a general strike for November 20.
In Belgium, students and high-schoolers in Brussels and Liège protested rising university fees and austerity measures, clashing with police who used tear gas and water cannon.
Several vehicles and street furniture were set on fire, and around a dozen arrests were reported in the capital. Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said events had moved beyond legitimate protest.
In Albania, what began in late May as the “Flamingo Revolution” against a luxury coastal development linked to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, has escalated into a broader anti-government uprising demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
On Saturday, Tirana saw its fifth consecutive day of violence: protesters threw petrol bombs and stones, setting fire to the Supreme Court, banks and a post office, while police deployed tear gas, water cannon and, for the first time, rubber bullets.
The health ministry reported 35 wounded, including 18 police officers; 167 people were arrested during the week.
In Portugal, tens of thousands marched in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra in a demonstration called by the CGTP-IN union confederation, demanding higher wages, better pensions and action on housing, food and fuel costs.
Inflation reached 3.6% in September. In Greece, students erected tents in Athens’ Syntagma Square to protest soaring rents and inadequate student housing.
The unrest is rooted in a confluence of pressures that have left European governments with little fiscal room. Eurozone inflation rose to 3.8% in September, with energy prices up 18.8% year-on-year, driven by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
France’s public debt stands at about 119% of GDP, its highest since 1946, and its 10-year bond yield has approached 5%, the highest since 2002, constraining any fiscal response.
French protesters have focused on fuel prices—a liter of petrol averaged about $2.39 on October 18, roughly 50% above the global average—and on a 2027 budget draft that freezes benefits and public-sector salaries.
The Yellow Vest movement, which convulsed Macron’s first term in 2018, has re-emerged alongside student unions, with figures from both calling for convergence.
The political calendar adds urgency. France holds presidential elections in April and May 2027, and Macron is in his final months in office. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has backed the protests; far-right leader Marine Le Pen has positioned herself on the side of police.
In Albania, Rama has refused to resign and accused foreign actors of seeking to destabilize the country without providing public evidence.
Lecornu’s curfew announcement did not quell the underlying anger. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire said the state bore responsibility for the weekend’s failures and warned the movement would continue.
“We have a social movement that is spreading, and no political prospect for a constructive way out,” he said. “So the protests will continue.”