Protests over schools and the cost of living turned into France's worst rioting in years on Saturday, October 17: about 3,000 shops looted, almost 2,400 arrests, curfews in Paris and other cities, and troops joining police for the next protests on October 24. What happened, where else in Europe it is spreading, what unrest does to a household that stays home, and how to prepare without leaving yours.
It started in September with a strike by students and teachers at a high school in the Paris suburbs who wanted more staff and resources. That school got what it asked for, but students around the country, frustrated with understaffed and overcrowded schools, took up the cause, and the protests grew for weeks. They widened into anger over the cost of living and declining public services, in a year when the price of diesel in France came within two cents of its record.
On Saturday, October 17, the yellow vest movement and major unions joined the students in a national day of protest. The interior ministry counted about 550,000 people, including 110,000 in Paris; organizers said more than 800,000. Most marched peacefully. But as night fell, masked groups looted shops, set fires and broke into public buildings. In Limoges, the 143-year-old town hall was set ablaze and its spire collapsed. In Lyon, the tourist office was burned, and in Marseille, protesters forced their way into city hall.
The count of the damage kept rising through the week. Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Tuesday that around 3,000 shops were looted across the country. The interior ministry reported almost 2,400 arrests and nearly 1,000 police officers and gendarmes injured. CNN reports at least two deaths; police said one protester in Paris died of cardiac arrest. Officials confirmed that a young demonstrator in Saint-Etienne lost a hand.
President Emmanuel Macron said, "Nothing justifies it, nothing explains it, nothing excuses it," promised an uncompromising response and gave prefects and mayors the power to ban gatherings. Curfews followed. Paris police set an overnight curfew from 11 p.m. in the worst-hit areas around the Place de la Republique and Les Halles, Bordeaux imposed one too, and in Lille and parts of Marseille the curfews apply only to minors. The main student union, UNEF, has called for more protests on Saturday, October 24, and the CGT union says it will join and is calling for them to be peaceful. The government says troops will be deployed alongside police and that, in Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's words, "the deployment next Saturday will be massive."
France is not alone. The Associated Press describes an autumn of protests across Europe driven by rising fuel costs, discontent with schools, declining public services and a housing crisis.
In Italy, peaceful marches were followed by riots in Turin, Bologna and Milan, where masked rioters clashed with police, looted stores and set property on fire. Milan police said 271 people were arrested over two days, most of them minors, and a new group calling itself the Oct. 17 Movement says it will demonstrate every Saturday in cities across Italy. In Belgium, police used tear gas and water cannon on student protesters in Brussels, and water cannon in Liege. Protests over unaffordable housing have spread through Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon and Porto, with tent camps in Spain and Portugal, and Spain has called an early election for November. In Albania, students have joined anti-government protests in Tirana that turned into clashes with police.
None of this is happening in the United States, and most of these protests have been peaceful. It matters to an American household for another reason: what the unrest did to ordinary people who were nowhere near the fighting.
For most families in France, the danger was never the street fight. It was the disruption that came with it, starting with the food supply. Supermarkets were among the targets: Carrefour's chief executive said 50 of the company's shops were hit, including 19 convenience stores and supermarkets, and that about 1,500 shops of other chains suffered violence too. Four days later, an Intermarche supermarket near the Place de la Republique in Paris was still closed while workers swept up glass and restocked the shelves.
Getting around stopped being simple. The Paris transit operator planned to close 25 metro stations at police request on the day of the march, and the US Embassy warned that demonstrations can trigger last-minute closures and blockades can delay roads. Then came curfews, which keep everyone at home at night whether or not there is trouble on their street. One Paris shopkeeper locked up on Saturday afternoon on the authorities' advice; when he watched his shop being looted on his security camera and rushed back, police at first would not let him through.
Fuel can go early, too. In September, as diesel neared its record price, fishers protesting the cost blocked ports and a fuel depot in the south of France, and government figures showed 11 percent of the country's service stations had run out of at least one type of fuel.
Put together, unrest looks a lot like the other stay-home emergencies: the stores you rely on are closed or empty, the trip across town is not worth the risk, and a curfew decides when you can go out. The question is the same one to ask for a storm or a power outage: how many days could your household manage on what is already in the house?
Stay away from it. The US Embassy's advice to Americans in France works anywhere: avoid the areas of demonstrations, be careful if you find yourself near a large gathering, check transit closures before you travel, and follow local news for curfews where you live. On October 17, most marchers were peaceful, and much of the worst violence came as night fell.
Have enough at home that you do not need to go out. With food, water and medicine for the days the shops near you are closed, a curfew or a looted supermarket is an inconvenience instead of a crisis. Count it in days, not boxes: whatever runs out first sets how long you can stay put. Issue 35 shows how to count them.
Do not let the basics run low while trouble is in the news. Keep the car's tank at least half full, refill prescriptions as early as your plan allows, and keep phones charged, so that neither a fuel blockade nor a curfew forces a trip you would rather not make.
Know how your family gets home. If unrest starts while people are at work or school, a simple plan for who goes where and how you reach each other matters more than any supply. Issue 36 covers how to make a family emergency communication plan.
Unrest can be over in a weekend or last far longer, and on the first day you cannot tell which. Our Civil Conflict guide walks through that range.
This issue reflects what was known on Wednesday, October 21, 2026. The reporting is from CNN, CNBC, CBC News, the Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera, Euronews, Sortiraparis and The Connexion, published September 18 to October 21. Travel advice is from the US Embassy in Paris alerts of October 17 and October 19. Arrest and turnout figures changed as the counts came in; where sources differ, we give the latest official figure and say who reported it.
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