Demonstrators waving Palestinian flags forced their way into Rome’s Colosseum, as Europe is gripped by protests across major cities.
Hundreds of young people forced their way into the 2,000-year-old monument on Saturday, calling for an end to the war in Gaza.
The group waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans for several minutes before police and security guards regained control and escorted them out.
Several other marches were organised across the country, with luxury stores in Milan like Versace barricading their shopfronts in anticipation of looting.
Protesters also gathered in Turin where they clashed with riot police, as citizens voiced their anger at the cost of living crisis.
It was a similar scene across France, with 400,000 people marching in major cities yesterday.
The French movement, that started last month, was initiated by students over their quality of education and school buildings, but has been co-opted by ‘ultra-Left’ organisations, resulting in widespread violent clashes with the police.
Over the weekend, 1,314 people were arrested across France, with 53 officers injured in the unrest, 75 fires started and 24 shops looted.
At a rally to launch her presidential campaign this afternoon, far-right politician and National Rally leader Marine Le Pen promised ‘true change’ and that her party would ‘restore the rule of law’, in a swipe at President Macron’s centrist government.
Protesters clash with riot police during a nationwide march against the rising cost of living in Turin
On Via Montenapoleone in the fashion district of Milan, major fashion and luxury brands are covering their windows with large wooden panels for security
A French Republican Security Corps officer confronts a protester on the ground in Marseille on Saturday afternoon
A protester kicks away a tear gas canister as police moved to disperse the crowds in Paris
A demonstrator seen wearing a Palestinian flag at the Colosseum in Rome
Elsewhere in Europe, there were 128 overnight arrests, 72 of which were minors in Barcelona for ‘vandalism’ and ‘looting’.
Spanish newspaper El País said 23 businesses were looted and 33 fires were set off in the city after young people were mobilised by viral videos on TikTok.
In Portugal, police again cleared tents set up by protesters against skyrocketing housing prices overnight on Sunday, with organisers criticising the brutality of the officers.
Police have frequently moved in to dismantle the camps that have sprung up in Lisbon and Porto in recent weeks, as authorities struggle to keep a grip on demonstrations.
According to the force, 11 people were injured, including eight civilians and three police officers, while 171 structures were taken down.
And in Serbia, where voting is now under way in what is set to be its most fiercely contested parliamentary election in more than 14 years, a student-led movement has been working to oust the party of veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic.
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.
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 took part in the protests this year.
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’.
