Protests Sweep Italy, Albania and Belgium as Clashes Turn Violent

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A new wave of demonstrations swept through major Italian cities on Saturday, most notably Milan, Turin, Bologna, and Rome.

In the Italian capital, a large march was organized by the CGIL, a union with 4.5 million members, in a direct challenge to the policies of Giorgia Meloni’s government. The union’s secretary-general, Maurizio Landini, announced that the CGIL will hold a general strike on November 20, the same day a Europe-wide student strike has been called.

At a protest in Bologna, a small group of young demonstrators with their faces covered clashed with police, hurling stones and bottles. Officers responded with batons and tear gas. In Turin, a rally against the rising cost of living and soaring fuel prices featured slogans targeting National Future, the far-right party led by former general Roberto Vannacci.

In Milan, a demonstration against the cost-of-living crisis erupted into clashes in the central Piazza del Duomo. A minority of protesters, again masked, threw fire extinguishers, smoke bombs, and café tables at police, who responded with batons and water cannons. According to initial reports, several people were injured, including at least one young woman and a police officer who sustained head wounds. Fifty people have been detained so far. Tourists and residents caught in the city center rushed to take shelter in shops and apartment buildings around the square.

Clashes Continue in Albania

The situation in central Tirana remained volatile and out of control for a fifth straight day, with running battles between police and protesters, hand-to-hand fighting, fires in the streets and in buildings, numerous injuries, vandalism, and looting.

Officers from RENEA, Albania‘s special intervention force, formed a protective cordon around the prime minister’s office, and their presence has further inflamed an already tense situation. After being pushed back from Prime Minister Edi Rama’s office, protesters marched on the Supreme Court and threw Molotov cocktails, setting several offices ablaze, endangering neighboring buildings, and burning a car.

At the same time, another group hurled firebombs at police on the main boulevard and at the entrance of a former historic hotel that now houses offices of the Bank of Albania. They also threw stones and chunks of marble, smashing the building’s windows. Nearby, a group of hooded protesters broke through the entrance and windows of an OTP Bank branch before setting it on fire. The demonstrators are demanding Rama’s resignation and protesting university teaching conditions and enrollment fees.

Justice Minister Toni Gogu condemned the attacks, saying they were directed “not against the government” but against “two independent institutions that serve the country and its citizens.”

For the first time since the protests began, police fired rubber bullets, according to Agence France-Presse journalists at the scene. Under Albanian law, police may use rubber bullets during demonstrations only in extreme circumstances.

“Today, for the first time since the protests started, police used rubber bullets, an extreme measure, knowing there are 16- and 17-year-old minors among the protesters,” student Redi Taku told AFP.

Protesters Clash With Police in Brussels

Hundreds of people, mostly young, also took to the streets of Brussels on Saturday, with some clashing with police in unrest partly fueled by protests in neighboring France. Belgian student movements say they are protesting the rising cost of education, as well as reforms they fear will make higher education less accessible. Demonstrators gathered in central Brussels, many wearing masks and chanting anti-fascist slogans. Police used tear gas and water cannons, and protesters overturned a car, according to a Reuters eyewitness.

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said in a post on X that “what is unfolding in Brussels is no longer a simple protest” and that “all necessary means will be used to restore order in the face of the rioters.”