17 October riots

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17 October riots
Part of 2026 European unrest, French student protests and French fuel protests
Rioters looting a video game store in Paris
Date	17 October 2026 (2026-10-17)
Location	France, Belgium, Italy
Caused by	Increased cost of living and fuel prices, education, decline of public services
Methods	Riots, looting, arson, vandalism, black bloc, demonstrations
Casualties
Deaths	France: 1 protester
Injuries	France: 1,000+ police officers, gendarmes and firefighters [citation needed] 400+ civilians[citation needed] Belgium: 5 police officers[citation needed] Italy: About 240 total injuries[citation needed]
Arrested	France: 2,400+ Belgium: 195 Italy: 60
Detained	Italy: 271[citation needed]

On 17 October 2026, nationwide unrest in France regarding rising living costs, fuel prices, public services, education, and other issues escalated as student organisations joined protests against the cost of living, spearheaded by the yellow vests movement. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 110 marches drew 550,000 participants, including 110,000 in Paris; organisers estimated 800,000.

While many of the initial protests and demonstrations throughout September and October were conducted peacefully, violence escalated over the weekend of 17 October, with looting, arson, and attacks occurring across France and related clashes and property damage in Italy and Belgium.

France

The 17 October riots originated in mid-September during the 2026 French student protests when the Yellow vests movement saw a resurgence on social media. On social media, calls for a general mobilisation against the cost-of-living crisis scheduled for 17 October were shared. On 18 September, due to poor school conditions, school staff and students began protesting in Paris, which soon spread nationwide. Originally motivated by cost-of-living concerns, the new Yellow vests movement expanded in reaction to the police brutality the student protesters had faced in preceding weeks.

On 17 October, the convergence of struggles brought together students, parents, Yellow vests, the far left, casseurs [fr](lit. 'breakers'), as well as climate activists. According to the Interior Ministry, around 550,000 people took part in marches nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris. The CGT put the figure at 800,000. Violence spread as night fell, with groups of young people looting shops and starting fires in Paris, and police responding with tear gas and baton charges.

Rioting took place in several locations. In Lyon, where about 20,000 people marched, some hooded individuals were seen vandalising a branch of the tourist office, tearing letters from its sign and damaging the premises. The tourist office was set on fire by several individuals. In Marseille, shops and a municipal police station were damaged, and protesters briefly entered the lobby of the city hall. In Limoges, the historic Hôtel de Ville was set ablaze during the evening, which led to the collapse of its roof and bell tower. A demonstrator lost a hand in Saint-Étienne; Nuñez said an investigation had opened and did not confirm reports that the injury was caused by a police grenade. The Associated Press reported that cars were set on fire and shops looted during clashes between police and groups of protesters.

The IFRAP foundation estimated damage at €1.1 billion, equal to the damage over eleven days of civil unrest following the killing of Nahel Merzouk in 2023. Around 1,500 shops were severely damaged, and a further 3,000 were looted. More than 1,500 fires involving vehicles and public equipment were reported. Public buildings and businesses were also attacked in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille and Bordeaux. Around 60 buildings suffered fire damage. The Associated Press reported about 400 arrests throughout the day. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu later said 1,200 people had been arrested and 150 police officers and gendarmes injured.

Italy

In major Italian cities (Milan, Turin, Bologna, Verona, Rome, Bari, Florence, Venice, Padua, Treviso and Cagliari), Italian students and farmers protested and blockaded ports and major highways due to empty supermarket shelves, elevated living costs, and soaring gas and fuel prices attributed to the war in Iran. The Italian government also planned to limit the number of foreign students in Italian schools. The day was named No Meloni Day after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.^{[citation needed]}

In Milan, the police used water cannons after protesters threw stones at them in the Gothic Cathedral. In Bologna, police used a water cannon to try to disperse the crowd and arrested 7 people. Most of the material damage occurred in Milan. In Rome, protesters threw firecrackers and cherry bombs and set off fire extinguishers to throw them at the Ministry of Education building. The protesters called for the Minister of Education to "get out of the building" while shouting the slogan "More classrooms, no more bombs." The Italian Education minister said "This is not a democratic expression of dissent, nor a defence of the school, but an attack on institutions and political hooliganism."

On 19 October, the 17 October Movement spontaneously took shape. In the early hours of 20 October 2026, viral messages and screenshots of fake news began circulating, claiming that rioters would burn down universities.

Belgium

In Belgium, the 17 October protests were against the education reforms and rising education costs that the protestors feared would make higher education less accessible. They were primarily focused in Brussels and Liege. 195 people were arrested on Saturday. Inspired by and a direct spillover of the protests in France, it was also a wider anti-austerity movement as the Prime minister of Belgium, Bart De Wever proposed €10 billion in budget cuts and raising the retirement age to 67. As the protests progressed they grew violent, and interior minister of Belgium, Bernard Quintin said the situation was "no longer simply a protest". "It is pure and simple violence, organized and repeated with the aim of destabilising our society", he wrote in a post on social media, adding that "all necessary measures will be taken to restore order in the face of the rioters". According to the Belgian police, the protesters started to use electric scooters and construction equipment to block roads and "cause significant damage" in Brussels. Additionally, they reported vandalism and arson by protestors. The Belgian police repeatedly used tear gas and water cannons to break up the protesters.

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