• France wasn't alone this weekend.
• Civil unrest occurred in several European cities this weekend.
• Protests over the high cost of living devolved into riots.

Demonstrators took to the streets across multiple European cities and capitals this weekend to protest the high cost of living in their countries.

Though the violence in Paris and other French cities claimed the headlines, thousands also showed up in Portugal, Italy, and Belgium. Demonstrators were arrested in large numbers — many people were seen in photos and videos clashing violently with police and looting local businesses.

Energy price hikes, caused at least in part by the US-Israeli war with Iran and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, have contributed to the rising prices. Other demonstrations in Belgium and France were begun by students and have since snowballed into larger-scale demonstrations, involving union workers and other organizations.

Here's a look at the chaos that unfolded across the Atlantic this weekend, where peaceful protests eventually devolved into riots and looting.

Lisbon

In Lisbon, Portugal's capital, people took to the streets on October 17 to protest the cost-of-living crisis, low wages, and unaffordable housing.

The demonstration, which was organized by the CGTP, Portugal's largest trade union federation, was also held in Porto and Coimbra. In all, the union said "thousands of workers" took part.

About 12.7% of the population in Portugal lives in overcrowded households.

Housing prices in Portugal recorded the largest annual increase of any EU member state in the second quarter of 2026, rising 16.5%. In Lisbon, the average rent is equivalent to 116% of the average salary, meaning it exceeds a typical monthly income by 16%.

Earlier this week, police removed a tent camp that activists had set up in Praça D. João I, a central public square in Porto, to draw attention to rising housing costs.

Brussels

In Belgium, students have held demonstrations in recent weeks over rising education costs, some of which turned violent over the weekend.

Video footage showed police using water cannons and tear gas during clashes with protesters in Brussels.

Belgian interior minister Bernard Quintin said in a post on X on Saturday that "what is unfolding in Brussels is no longer mere protest" and "all necessary means will be used to restore order in the face of the rioters."

Clashes also took place in Liège. Police arrested 195 people across the two cities during Saturday's protests, per The Brussels Times.

Milan

In Milan, a demonstration over the weekend against wars and the rising cost of living also descended into clashes between protesters and police.

Photos showed chaotic scenes around Piazza del Duomo, the landmark central square outside the Milan Cathedral and one of the city's busiest tourist areas, with looters damaging shop fronts and setting objects on fire.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence in a post on X on Sunday.

"Thugs who exploit demonstrations to sow chaos, attack those who ensure security, and hold entire cities hostage," she wrote. "Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not."

The demonstrations were also held in other cities across northern Italy. Police estimates reported by Rai News, Italy's public broadcaster put turnout at about 5,000 in Milan, 3,000 in Turin, 2,000 in Bologna, 600 in Brescia, and 800 in Bergamo.

Italy's annual inflation rate jumped to 4.1% in September, up from 3.2% in August.

In Milan, home prices have also climbed: residential asking prices were 49% higher in September than in 2018, according to the property portal Immobiliare.it.

• Katie Zacharia says she did her best at her first White House briefing despite having little time to prepare.
• She said on "Hannity" that she only received briefing materials the morning of the press conference.
• Trump's new press secretary also confirmed she sat for the bar exam but did not pass.

Katie Zacharia has had a tough first week at work.

Her first briefing as the new White House press secretary lasted about 14 minutes, and she took three questions. Then came scrutiny over her legal career.

During a Thursday appearance on "Hannity" on Fox News — known to be friendly territory for the Trump administration — Zacharia said she had done her "very best" in her debut and addressed the criticism over her legal career.

"What I feel is I really stepped up to the plate to do the press conference, Sean, with very little prep time," Zacharia told host Sean Hannity.

Zacharia said she had been on the job for “less than maybe eight hours” and only received briefing materials on Tuesday morning — the day of the press conference.

She also responded to criticism that she had taken questions only from conservative outlets, saying she had called on the Daily Mail, which "is not known to be a conservative outlet or friendly to conservatives."

Zacharia said she “probably should have stepped aside” after introducing herself, rather than take questions.

Hannity then asked Zacharia about her background in law.

She confirmed that she had taken the bar exam but had not passed, and had not retaken it.

Zacharia said she graduated from Pepperdine the same week she got married, and planned to move to China. However, she had already registered for the exam.

"The results of the bar were inconsequential, and I sat for it because I didn't want to have a withdrawal status," she said.

In China, she said she got a job in the "international practice of a Chinese law firm" where she "was doing cross-country border transactions and multimillion dollar shareholder agreements."

Zacharia also confirmed that she consulted with legal professionals over whether she could call herself a lawyer because she had a "valid Juris Doctor from a good law school."

Hannity then brought up a Thursday CNN report about how she had shared several social media posts in which she described herself as an attorney.

"I think they were retweets, and I corrected the record and said that that's not endorsing the title. They were retweets of a title that had been given," Zacharia said.

Scrutiny over her legal background

Over the past week, questions have mounted over Zacharia's legal credentials.

She graduated from Pepperdine University's Caruso School of Law in 2011, but the Substack publication Popular Information reported on Tuesday that she had not been admitted to any state bar.

On Wednesday, two watchdog groups filed complaints with California's state bar, calling on it to investigate whether Zacharia had violated state law by calling herself a lawyer.

Her work experience in China has also drawn attention to her legal credentials.

Chinese law experts told Business Insider that only Chinese nationals can take the country's bar exam. Foreign employees at international law firms can work on some transactions without passing it, but their role is limited.

"She was never a lawyer in China. It doesn't mean she didn't do law-related work, but she was never a lawyer in China," Jacques deLisle, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania law school who studies the Chinese legal system, told Business Insider.

• ByteDance's short-drama app, Hongguo, is riding high in China.
• It now trails only Douyin, WeChat, and Douyin Lite in terms of how much time Chinese users spend on it.
• Meanwhile, major long-form streaming platforms in the country are losing ground.

Forget three-hour movies. China is getting hooked on bite-sized dramas — and ByteDance's Hongguo app is becoming one of the country's biggest platforms for streaming them.

In August, ByteDance's apps accounted for 41.8% of the time users spent on China's 50 biggest mobile apps, up from 34.2% a year earlier. The figures come from Nomura's China Internet and New Media Monthly App Tracker, published October 5.

Much of that growth came from its two apps: Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and Hongguo, a streaming platform focused on short dramas.

Hongguo ranks fourth among the country's biggest apps, behind ByteDance's Douyin and its Lite version, as well as WeChat.

At the same time, China's long-form streaming services are losing ground. In August, the monthly time Chinese users spent on iQIYI, Tencent Video, and Mango TV fell by 35%, 40%, and 27%, respectively, year-on-year.

Short dramas on the rise

Launched in 2023, Hongguo is essentially TikTok for short dramas, operating on a free, ad-supported model.

Chinese data firm QuestMobile said the platform had nearly 370 million users as of June.

Hongguo is riding a broader short-drama boom in China. These shows are made for phone screens, with episodes lasting several minutes and storylines ranging from high-stakes romance and revenge to fantasy and family feuds.

The format is taking off overseas, too. Tech market analysis firm Omdia expects the US, its largest market outside China, to generate roughly half of the $3 billion in international short-drama revenue forecast for this year.

Omdia puts global short-drama revenue at about $11 billion in 2025 and expects it to climb to $14 billion by the end of this year.

The format has also become a testing ground for AI-made video.

Speaking more broadly about the industry at the DBS Asia Future Forward Conference in Singapore on Monday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said AI video tools can help brands create ads at a fraction of the usual cost, a trend he said is already playing out in China's short-drama industry. TikTok and Hongguo are both owned by ByteDance.

Chew said he believed the "overwhelming majority" of short dramas now being produced use AI models, including ByteDance's Seedance.