Anger over Europe's cost of living spills into the streets as protests turn violent in several countries Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across France for a second weekend in a row amid anger over living costs and deteriorating public services. Similar complaints also sparked protests that swept Italy, Portugal and Albania. Despite the curfew and restrictions imposed in more than 100 French cities, clashes broke out, although the destruction was less widespread than last weekend. The authorities deployed 70,000 police backed by armored vehicles, water cannons and UAVs. The government counted 410,000 protesters, compared to the 800,000 estimated by the CGT union. About 1,000 people were arrested throughout the country by Saturday evening, two were seriously injured. The police deployed a water cannon in Paris. Clashes broke out in Lyon, Lille, Nice, Rennes and Dijon. As police deployed tear gas; several shops were damaged or looted in Italy, protests turned violent in Turin, Rome and Bologna, while those in Milan remained largely peaceful. In Portugal, police broke up a protest camp in Lisbon after thousands marched over skyrocketing rents, unaffordability of housing, and proposed changes that would ease evictions and remove rent caps on new leases. Student-led protests in Albania over government corruption, unemployment and poor education standards have escalated in Tirana. Police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets while protesters threw stones and set fire to the entrance to the Ministry of Agriculture, demanding that Prime Minister Edi Ramas resign. substack | talk.

Anger over Europe's cost of living spills into the streets as protests turn violent in several countries Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across France for a second weekend in a row amid anger over living costs and deteriorating public services. Similar complaints also sparked protests that swept Italy, Portugal and Albania. Despite the curfew and restrictions imposed in more than 100 French cities, clashes broke out, although the destruction was less widespread than last weekend. The authorities deployed 70,000 police backed by armored vehicles, water cannons and UAVs. The government counted 410,000 protesters, compared to the 800,000 estimated by the CGT union. About 1,000 people were arrested throughout the country by Saturday evening, two were seriously injured. The police deployed a water cannon in Paris. Clashes broke out in Lyon, Lille, Nice, Rennes and Dijon. As police deployed tear gas; several shops were damaged or looted in Italy, protests turned violent in Turin, Rome and Bologna, while those in Milan remained largely peaceful. In Portugal, police broke up a protest camp in Lisbon after thousands marched over skyrocketing rents, unaffordability of housing, and proposed changes that would ease evictions and remove rent caps on new leases. Student-led protests in Albania over government corruption, unemployment and poor education standards have escalated in Tirana. Police used tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets while protesters threw stones and set fire to the entrance to the Ministry of Agriculture, demanding that Prime Minister Edi Ramas resign. substack | talk.