From Milan and Paris to Lisbon and Madrid, mounting discontent over prices, rents and public services confronts governments with a widening wave of protests and increasingly forceful security responses.

ROME/PARIS -- Europe's cost-of-living unrest escalated on Tuesday as Italy prepared to deploy 500 soldiers to Milan and France announced troop deployments and expanded curfews ahead of new protests planned for Saturday, with governments responding to anger over soaring prices with security crackdowns.

The Italian government of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni decided at a crisis meeting to send 500 additional soldiers to Milan, where weekend protests against living costs descended into clashes with police, vandalism and looting.

Police detained 271 young people after hooded youths set bins ablaze, ransacked shops and smashed windows near Milan's cathedral. Of those detained, 32 were arrested, including 23 minors and 13 foreign nationals, police said. Police used teargas and water cannon to disperse the groups, who were on the fringes of an initially peaceful protest.

Meloni's government is also planning to swiftly approve tougher security measures, including extending preventive detention for minors, cracking down on youth groups and banning gatherings for people deemed a threat to public order, Italian media reported Tuesday.

In Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, brands including Chanel, Tiffany and Dior removed merchandise from their windows as a precaution, while many luxury stores in the fashion district stayed closed amid fears of further unrest.

In France, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said Tuesday some military forces would be deployed during protests planned for Saturday, "mostly to free police and gendarmes in their mission to maintain order".

 Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told parliament the police presence would be "massive" and that his goal was an "immediate return to order" after last weekend's riots, which saw nearly 2,400 people arrested and more than 600 police, gendarmes and firefighters injured. Lecornu acknowledged that the deployment on October 17 "was not mobile enough".

French authorities renewed curfews in Paris from 11pm Tuesday until 6am Wednesday around Place de la République and the Les Halles shopping district, and banned masks and the carrying of petrol or gas cans in some areas. A man was arrested in connection with the burning of the historic town hall in Limoges.

The unrest is rooted in a deepening economic crisis that governments have been unable or unwilling to address. The European Commission estimates the unprovoked U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that erupted in February has cost Europe roughly €100 billion through disrupted trade and energy markets, with gas prices jumping about 140% and diesel prices doubling.

In Italy, inflation stands at 4.2%. French protesters described a reality in which the minimum wage no longer covers food, fuel and basic necessities. Farmers across southern Italy have blockaded roads, saying fuel costs have more than doubled and made agricultural work prohibitively expensive.

Analysts note that the benefits of macroeconomic stability are failing to reach the bottom half of the income distribution, with unemployed people, low-paid workers and people with disabilities reporting the lowest levels of trust in national governments.

"A gap is opening between the rhetoric of a resilient Europe and the reality of daily life," said Eszter Sandor, a senior research manager at Eurofound.

The political consequences are already visible. Far-right parties across the continent have gained ground by making fuel prices and energy costs central campaign issues, with Marine Le Pen's National Rally improving its ratings since the war on Iran began while President Emmanuel Macron's have slipped.

Both hard-right and hard-left politicians have called for restoring energy ties with Russia, challenging Europe's mainstream consensus.

Saturday's planned protests—dubbed the "second act" by organizers—are expected to bring further confrontations. A new Italian movement calling itself "17 October" has urged demonstrations in Milan and other major cities every Saturday afternoon until the government falls.

Portuguese police stormed the Rossio Square housing protest camp in central Lisbon early Tuesday morning, dismantling tents and arresting 55 people for disobedience, according to police statements.

More than 200 tents were seized. Protesters formed human chains to block the operation before clashes broke out; the protest movement said around 30 demonstrators were injured and arrested, and vowed to attempt to rebuild the camp within hours.

In Porto, demonstrators had already dismantled their camp voluntarily in the face of a threatened police operation. The protests, which began in Porto earlier this month, demand rent caps and more public housing construction.

Madrid police fired rubber bullets into the air on Tuesday to disperse striking teachers who had blocked the entrance to the Chamber of Commerce, where regional premier Isabel Díaz Ayuso was attending an official event.

The incident occurred on the fourth day of an indefinite strike in public education involving more than 65,000 teachers. Earlier in the day, protesters blocked a key highway during rush hour, and the regional education minister was forced to cancel a school visit due to a blocked entrance.

Teachers' demands include reduced teaching hours, smaller class sizes, a €600 pay increase, less bureaucracy, and emergency investment in school infrastructure. Separately, housing protesters have been encamped in Madrid's Puerta del Sol for three weeks, with similar protests spreading to Barcelona and Valencia.

Protests in the Albanian capital entered their seventh consecutive night on Tuesday, with demonstrators throwing stones at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons.

According to authorities, around 300 people have been injured in the clashes, more than half of them police officers.

Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Tuesday that the unrest was being fueled by a "hybrid war," repeating earlier accusations that foreign actors were responsible, while acknowledging the protests were rooted in real discontent over rising living costs, housing unaffordability, and anxiety about the future.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of university lecturers marched in solidarity with students against police violence, carrying a banner reading "Stop the violence against students" and calling for Rama's resignation.

In Berlin, eleven activists glued themselves to the road in front of a Rheinmetall arms factory in the Gesundbrunnen district early Tuesday morning. Around 90 police officers were deployed to remove them from the roadway.

The group "Peacefully Against Genocide" called the action to protest weapons deliveries to Israel and said protests were also taking place at arms sites in other German states.

Demonstrations continued in Brussels and Liège, led by high school students protesting education budget cuts and the high cost of living.

The Belgian defense minister said military-trained police units were needed to protect citizens, amid concerns the protests could turn violent like those in France.

Teachers and students have been opposing cuts to education investment, while unions criticize government fiscal consolidation measures as potentially weakening social protections and increasing burdens on workers.

Calls for mobilization in UK towns and cities were circulating online, but there was no confirmation of any coordinated nationwide protest campaign, and no confirmed dates, locations, or organizers had been established as of Tuesday.