Key events
Police clashes with protesters as protests spread to Italy, as fuel, fresh food shortages also hit south
Lorenzo Tondo
in Palermo
Italian police also clashed with protesters who threw stones and looted shops in Milan on Sunday during demonstrations over the rising cost of living, as lorry drivers blocked roads across southern Italy in protest at soaring fuel prices linked to the war in Iran.
Footage showed police in riot gear firing teargas and using water cannon after several hundred hooded protesters smashed shop windows and set bins alight in the area around Piazza del Duomo in central Milan.
The clashes echoed scenes of violence in neighbouring France, where hundreds of thousands of people angered by rising living costs and declining public services took to the streets on Saturday in some of the country’s most violent protests in years.
Meanwhile, lorry drivers have caused widespread disruption across southern Italy, blocking major roads and creating huge traffic jams in Sicily, Puglia and Calabria in protest at the mounting financial pressure on the haulage industry.
Hundreds of petrol stations have run out of fuel, while supermarkets are beginning to report shortages of several products, particularly fresh food. Pharmacies have also been affected, raising concerns about disruption to essential supplies.
“We are asking the government to urgently convene a meeting with industry associations. Otherwise, we will consider a nationwide strike,” said Pasquale Russo, president of Conftrasporto, an association representing Italian haulage companies.
“The situation is very concerning because the excessive price increases affecting the haulage industry have created a highly tense situation among transport companies, leading to spontaneous protests in some areas of the country,” he added.
In several parts of southern Italy, petrol stations have run out of both petrol and diesel, with motorists facing long queues at the few filling stations still operating. The road blockades have also caused extensive traffic disruption, with fears growing that prolonged protests could further disrupt supplies of food, fuel and other essential goods.
Morning opening: Macron declines offer of interior minister’s resignation after weekend riots
Jakub Krupa
French president Emmanuel Macron has declined interior minister Laurent Nuñez’s offer to resign after widespread riots over the weekend, despite “failures in anticipation and intelligence” that were deemed to worsen the crisis engulfing the country.
Macron said Nuñez should stay to ensure a chain of command is retained within the police and security forces, and has also asked Nuñez to set up as quickly as possible new approaches to deal with looters, the Élysée Palace added, quoted by Reuters.
Macron has asked the minister to “put in place new operational methods for security forces” to get a grip over the crisis.
Saturday, one of the most violent days of unrest in years, left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted and at least 2,400 people arrested in cities across the country.
In a TV interview on Monday, Nuñez admitted that the police “lost control” in some cities during the protests.
In an address to the nation last night, Macron criticised “unbridled violence”.
“Watching these images, we have all asked ourselves how could French people do this to France?” he said.
I will bring you more updates on this today.
Separately, I will also be keeping an eye on Ukraine, after another night of heavy attacks by Russia killing at least one and injuring eight people, and with conflicting reports about whether Kyiv authorities had been warned about the strikes.
We should also get an update from Sweden, as the parliament’s speaker is set to decide on the next step in the government formation process there.
I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Monday, 19 October 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
