Hundreds of thousands protest across Italy in mostly peaceful rallies

On Friday, 30 October 2026, people gathered at more than 60 locations in Italy. The communist union USB, which called the protests together with several labour organisations, put the number of demonstrators at one million. The rallies targeted the expensive cost of living and Italy's military spending under the slogan 'lay down arms and raise wages', and were driven mainly by students, workers and pro-Palestinian activists. The protests were largely peaceful, although police used a water cannon in Turin and demonstrators set several rubbish bins on fire in Rome. The organising union had also urged workers to stop work. Transport minister Matteo Salvini of the right-wing Lega party issued a special order banning strikes in the days before a national holiday, in this case All Saints' Day. USB pledged to cover any fines workers might incur. Disruption to public transport remained fairly limited, while more than 100 ports at home and abroad joined a call to close in protest against the international arms trade. The demonstration follows a prolonged economic slump in which transport and agriculture were hit hard by rising energy and fuel prices, and truck drivers stopped work and blocked key transport routes in October. Shop shelves in parts of southern Italy stayed empty for a time, and the Meloni government rolled out a one-off support measure for the affected sectors. In the Netherlands, Belgium and France, social media posts called for people to take to the streets on Saturday, 31 October. Dutch Minister of the Interior Pieter Heerma spoke of worrying reports, and shops in The Hague boarded up their windows, although no official demonstrations had been registered in the Netherlands.