Cost-of-living protests in Europe: who marched and why
Cost-of-living protests swept France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Albania on 24 October: crowd sizes by country, what marchers want and how governments replied.
Why it matters
Higher energy and housing costs are eating into household budgets across Europe. The protests put pressure on governments before Spain's November election and France's 2027 presidential vote.
French authorities counted 410,000 marchers on Saturday. Organizers said nearly twice that.
Cost-of-living protests brought crowds onto the streets of France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Albania on Saturday, 24 October 2026. The grievances ranged from fuel prices and rents to pensions and tuition fees. France saw the largest crowds and the most arrests.
| Country | Where | Crowd size (who counted) | Main demands |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | Paris and dozens of cities | 410,000 (authorities); about 800,000 (organizers) | Living costs, fuel prices, school funding |
| Italy | Milan, Rome, Turin and other cities | Thousands (no national count) | Living costs, budget cuts, public services |
| Spain | Madrid | 25,000 (government office); 50,000 (organizers) | Pensions tied to inflation, no privatization |
| Portugal | Lisbon | Thousands | Affordable housing, drop rental law changes |
| Albania | Tirana | Thousands | Lower tuition, school funding, end to corruption |
Source: AP, AFP, Reuters, Euronews, France 24; figures for 24 October 2026.
What links the cost-of-living protests?
Prices, and above all energy. Annual inflation in the euro area reached 3.8% in September, up from 2.2% a year earlier, according to Eurostat, and energy prices were 18.9% higher than in September 2025. Fuel costs have climbed since war broke out in the Middle East in February, AFP reported.
| Country | Inflation, Sept 2026 (%) | Inflation, Sept 2025 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Spain | 5.0 | 3.0 |
| Italy | 4.2 | 1.7 |
| Euro area | 3.8 | 2.2 |
| Portugal | 3.6 | 1.9 |
| France | 3.4 | 1.1 |
Source: Eurostat, harmonized consumer prices, published 16 October 2026. Albania is not in the EU and is not covered.
Why a 3.8% inflation rate is hitting some groups much harder
The headline number hides how concentrated the squeeze is. Energy carries a weight of about 9% in Eurostat’s euro area price basket, yet in September it supplied 1.71 of the 3.8 percentage points of inflation, close to half the total. Services, the category most sensitive to wages, added 1.52 points. People who drive for a living, heat old homes or run trucks feel that 18.9% energy jump directly, which is why truck drivers and farmers joined Italy’s protests over diesel prices and why fuel became a rallying cry in France. (Our inflation explainer covers how the basket and its weights work.)
Housing costs are partly invisible in the same figures. Eurostat’s harmonized index leaves out the imputed rent of people who own their homes, so rising house prices and mortgage bills do not enter it directly; rents paid by tenants do. Portuguese house prices have more than doubled since 2017, Reuters reported, a rise the headline rate barely registers.
The European Central Bank raised its deposit rate to 2.5% on 10 September, its second increase this year, saying the conflict in the Middle East “continues to generate inflation pressures.” ECB economists found that energy supply factors explained about 90% of the rise in energy inflation between January and May, Euronews reported. Higher interest rates cannot lower oil prices; they aim to stop energy costs spreading into wages and other prices, and they also make loans dearer for the households now marching. Our explainer covers what a central bank rate decision means for your money.
The last big wave of price protests came in 2022, when euro area inflation peaked at 10.6% in October that year. Today’s rate is little more than a third of that peak. The difference this time is who is marching: school and university students in France, Italy and Albania, and pensioners in Spain, with grievances over school funding and policing folded into the anger about prices.
France: nearly 1,000 arrests
The interior ministry put turnout at 410,000 nationwide. Organizers, led by the CGT union, said about 800,000.
Marches were mostly peaceful, but riot police fired tear gas in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille, Toulouse, Montpellier and Nantes. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said police had made nearly 1,000 arrests by Saturday evening and blamed “an extremely elevated level of violence” by black-clad “ultra-left” groups.
About 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed after rioting and looting a week earlier, on 17 October, led to 2,700 arrests. The movement began in schools in September over education funding and widened into protests over prices and fuel.
Italy: soldiers on Milan’s streets
Thousands of mostly young people marched in Milan, Rome, Turin and other cities, answering a call from the newly formed “October 17 Movement.” The government sent 500 extra soldiers to Milan, where the march stayed peaceful.
Italian police said 371 people were briefly detained across eight cities, 110 of them minors, and nine were arrested, Euronews reported. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government this week adopted a security decree with tougher rules for minors and a new offense of violent participation in a demonstration.
Spain: pensions before an election
Pensioners marched through central Madrid. The central government’s office in Madrid counted 25,000; the organizers, the pension campaign group COESPE, said 50,000. AFP cited a far higher figure of about 250,000 from Madrid authorities. The marchers want pensions to rise with actual inflation and the minimum pension raised to the level of the minimum wage.
Spain votes on 29 November, and pensions are a campaign issue. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez accuses the conservative Popular Party of planning to weaken inflation-linked increases. Its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has promised to keep raising pensions in line with inflation. The average retirement pension was €1,576 (about $1,770) a month in September.
Portugal: rents and evictions
Housing protesters marched in Lisbon against government changes that ease the cap on annual rent rises and make evictions easier. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro says the measures will strengthen the rental market, AP reported. A week earlier, the CGTP union said “many tens of thousands” joined its Lisbon march over wages and living costs. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Carlos Abreu Amorim said the government “will not yield to shouts from the street,” according to Reuters.
Albania: students against tuition fees
In Tirana, police used tear gas and water cannon on crowds outside government buildings, the latest clash in a student-led wave that began on 13 October. Students want lower tuition, more money for education and an end to corruption in education, and some also demand the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Rama has refused to step down. He says his government is preparing a response to the students and has called for dialogue.
What happens next: Spain’s general election on 29 November will test the pension debate at the ballot box. The CGTP plans a protest outside Portugal’s parliament on 24 November, the Portugal Resident news site reported. Eurostat’s first estimate of October inflation is due around the turn of the month, and France elects a successor to President Emmanuel Macron in spring 2027.
