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Mahmoud Khalil Appeals to Supreme Court to Halt Deportation

Mr. Khalil had recently graduated from Columbia when he was arrested by ICE agents and became the face of the Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

© Scott Heins for The New York Times

Mahmoud Khalil speaking in Manhattan last year. His memoir, “No Land to Stand On,” recounts his harrowing experience of being arrested in the lobby of his New York apartment building and held for months in a detention camp in Louisiana.
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Meloni Prepares New Security Measures After Milan Riots Leave Hundreds Detained

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has convened an emergency government meeting following two days of violent unrest in Milan and other northern cities, where demonstrators clashed with police, looted shops and damaged public property during protests over living costs and deteriorating public services.

Police brought 271 people to police headquarters following Sunday’s disturbances in Milan, including 220 minors. Of those detained, 32 were formally arrested and another 28 were reported to the judicial authorities, according to figures released on Monday, 19th October.

The violence has prompted the Italian government to consider further restrictions on those involved in violent demonstrations, potentially introducing additional powers directed at organised disorder and juvenile offenders.

Milan city centre hit by looting

The disturbances began during demonstrations on Saturday, 17th October, organised amid growing dissatisfaction over household expenses, public services and wider political grievances.

Although the protests initially included peaceful participants, groups of masked individuals subsequently confronted riot police in central Milan. Officers used tear gas and water cannon as demonstrators erected burning barricades and threw objects at security personnel.

The unrest continued on Sunday, when shops were attacked close to Piazza del Duomo, one of Milan’s principal commercial and tourist areas.

Among the premises targeted were branches of Decathlon, Arc’teryx and Vodafone. Television footage showed damaged shopfronts, overturned street furniture and burning rubbish containers.

According to police figures reported on Monday, 174 of those taken to police headquarters were subjected to preventive detention measures introduced under recent Italian security legislation.

Fourteen members of the security services were reported injured during Sunday’s disturbances, including ten police officers and four members of the municipal police.

The judicial authorities are examining the conduct of individuals suspected of taking part in attacks on businesses and confrontations with officers. Prosecutors have sought custodial measures against several adults accused of offences including devastation, looting and aggravated resistance.

The large proportion of minors among those detained has become a central issue in the political response.

Violence spreads across northern Italy

Milan was not the only city affected by disorder. Saturday’s demonstrations also produced confrontations in Turin, Bologna, Brescia and Bergamo.

Italian police reported arrests across the affected cities, while the scale and organisation of the disturbances have raised questions about whether different groups were acting independently or using demonstrations as opportunities for coordinated violence.

There is not yet sufficient publicly established evidence to attribute the disorder to a single organisation or political movement.

The clashes coincided with major protests in neighbouring France, where similar concerns over living costs and public administration have contributed to increasingly confrontational demonstrations.

Although the grievances overlap, the Italian and French movements have different political backgrounds and organisational structures.

Government considers emergency legislation

Following a meeting at Palazzo Chigi on Monday, Meloni’s government indicated that it was considering a legislative response, potentially through an emergency decree.

According to details of the government discussions, proposals under examination include additional measures against violent offences, changes to preventive policing and possible restrictions addressing road blockages.

Some measures could be drawn from security legislation already under consideration in the Italian Senate. Ministers have also discussed the need for more effective intervention against juvenile offenders.

The meeting included Deputy Prime Ministers Matteo Salvini and Antonio Tajani, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto and senior officials from the police, Carabinieri and intelligence services.

The government has stressed that peaceful demonstrations must remain protected while arguing that violence and organised destruction require a stronger response.

No final legislative text had been adopted at the conclusion of Monday’s meeting. A decree could be considered by the Council of Ministers as early as Tuesday, although the precise content remains subject to further examination.

Dispute over responsibility for policing

The unrest has also produced a dispute between Milan’s municipal authorities and the national government.

Mayor Giuseppe Sala questioned the adequacy of the policing arrangements, arguing that the number of officers initially deployed was insufficient to control the disturbances.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi rejected that criticism, while senior government figures accused local political leaders of failing to condemn the violence unequivocally.

The disagreement reflects a wider question over how responsibility for anticipating and containing serious public disorder should be divided between local administrations and national security authorities.

Italy’s opposition has also challenged the government’s handling of the disturbances. Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi criticised Meloni and Piantedosi over their failure to prevent the violence, calling for a change in leadership at the Interior Ministry.

The political argument is likely to intensify if the government proceeds with emergency legislation. Supporters of stronger police powers argue that the existing framework is insufficient to deal with rapidly organised disturbances, while opponents will scrutinise the proportionality of new restrictions and their effect on peaceful protest.

The immediate test for the government will be whether additional legal powers can improve public-order operations without replacing effective policing, intelligence gathering and judicial enforcement.

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France Curfews Announced After Paris Rioters Targeted Residential Apartments for Looting

French Prime Minsiter Sébastien Lecornu has announced that there will be localised curfews put in place in a bid to stem the rioting and looting which have ravaged the country over the past two days. After a meeting of ministers

The post France Curfews Announced After Paris Rioters Targeted Residential Apartments for Looting appeared first on Breitbart.

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Iran Mocks France After Macron Blames Middle East War for Riots

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused French President Emmanuel Macron of "welcom[ing] atrocities against Iranians" and mockingly called for the French government to "listen" to hordes of violent rioters in a social media post on Sunday, responding to Macron blaming the war between Iran and America for the riots.

The post Iran Mocks France After Macron Blames Middle East War for Riots appeared first on Breitbart.

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4 figures that help explain the affordability crisis behind France's protests

Protesters gather at "Monument a la Republique" during demonstrations in Paris, France, on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.
Protesters gather at "Monument a la Republique" during demonstrations in Paris, France.

Bloomberg/Getty Images

  • France's cost-of-living protests descended into violence and looting over the weekend.
  • Hundreds of thousands demonstrated amid growing anger over the cost of living and public services.
  • From soaring energy prices to declining incomes, five figures help explain the unrest.

France's growing anger over the cost of living erupted into scenes of looting and violence over the weekend.

While most of the hundreds of thousands of people who demonstrated across the country did so peacefully, clashes broke out between police and some protesters, with officers firing tear gas.

The unrest began as student protests over worsening school conditions, but has since grown into a broader movement fueled by frustration over the unaffordability of life in France.

The financial pressures facing French households are familiar to Americans: surging energy prices, wages struggling to keep pace with inflation, and the difficulty of making ends meet.

Here are four numbers that help explain the financial frustrations driving the protests.

1. The poverty rate is at a 30-year high

INSEE defines monetary poverty as having a standard of living below 60% of the national median, adjusted for household size. In 2024, that threshold was €1,337 a month for someone living alone.

France's monetary poverty rate stood at 15.4% in 2024, its highest level since annual records began in 1996, according to INSEE data published in July. The figures are the latest available because calculating poverty rates requires detailed tax and benefits records, which take time to compile and analyze.

That means around 9.8 million people in mainland France were living below the poverty line.

2. Energy prices are up more than 60% since 2015

It's not just Americans who are grappling with rising energy costs.

Energy prices in France increased by more than 60% between 2015 and the first half of 2026, according to INSEE. Electricity prices rose 43% over that period, while fuel prices were 31% higher at the end of 2025 than in 2015.

As with much of the world, the war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz crisis sent fuel prices soaring. By April 2026, fuel prices in France were 30% higher than at the end of 2025, per the INSEE report.

Rising fuel costs were behind French protests in September, and members of that movement have joined students and trade unions in the riots over the past week.

3. Nearly 3 in 10 French people can't afford unexpected expenses

Data from Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, shows that 28.8% of people in France lived in households that couldn't afford an unexpected expense without borrowing or seeking financial help in 2025.

France isn't particularly unusual in the wider European context — the EU average was also around 29% — but the figures illustrate the financial insecurity facing almost a third of households as people protest over the cost of living.

4. More than 40% of French people experienced some difficulty making ends meet

More than four in 10 people in France (41.1%) lived in households that reported at least some difficulty making ends meet in 2025, according to Eurostat data.

Of those, 19.4% reported some difficulty, 13.7% reported difficulty, and 8% reported great difficulty, highlighting the widespread financial strain facing French households.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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Disorder in Paris shut down the world's busiest and most famous museum

Crowd with strike banners stands outside the Musée du Louvre pyramid entrance in Paris.
Protesters blocked the entrances to the Louvre Museum on Monday to express their support for a nationwide high school student protest movement.

Luc Auffret/Anadolu via Getty Images

  • The Louvre Museum said Monday it had closed its doors after student protests blocked its entrances.
  • Riots and unrest have swept France in recent weeks, with violence erupting in Paris this weekend.
  • The home of artworks like the "Mona Lisa" and the "Venus de Milo" gets around 9 million visitors a year.

The Louvre, the world's busiest and best-known museum, has shut its doors as disorder sweeps Paris.

The museum, home to some of the planet's most famous artworks, such as the "Mona Lisa" and the "Venus de Milo," said Monday that it had closed after protesters blocked its doors, extending the disruption beyond a weekend of demonstrations and riots across France.

"Dear visitors, due to student strikes the museum is currently closed. We apologize for the inconvenience," the Louvre said in a post on X. It gave no reopening time, and did not say whether it would reopen on Monday.

Students from the École du Louvre led the blockade in support of a nationwide high school protest movement and to denounce what they called police repression, AFP reported, citing museum management and unions.

The Louvre is visited by about 9 million people annually, making it by far the world's most visited museum.

Monday's shutdown bookends a difficult year for the museum. On this exact date last year, four thieves broke into the Apollo Gallery and stole eight pieces of France's crown jewels, valued at around $100 million.

The closure followed a weekend of protests over rising living costs and conditions in schools, with violence and looting in several French cities.

A Paris shopkeeper whose gold-buying store was broken into told Business Insider's Nathan Rennolds that thieves had "taken everything." He also found a Nicolas wine store on Sunday, its windows smashed and shelves picked clean.

Employees at a nearby boutique said they had hired extra security but closed early as the violence intensified.

At least 2,400 people were arrested after the weekend unrest, according to the Associated Press.

After an emergency meeting on Monday, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said he had instructed regional officials to impose limited, localized curfews.

In a separate statement, President Emmanuel Macron's office said the president had ordered a review of failures in security planning and intelligence gathering.

Read the original article on Business Insider
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Italy: 270+ Rioters Detained After Day Two of 'Guerrilla War' Chaos in Milan

Over 270 rioters were detained by Italian law enforcement officials Monday after the second day of "guerrilla war" unrest at the historic city of Milan, local outlets reported.

The post Italy: 270+ Rioters Detained After Day Two of ‘Guerrilla War’ Chaos in Milan appeared first on Breitbart.

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Emmanuel Macron Refuses Interior Minister's Resignation After Weekend of Riots

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning refused the resignation of his Interior Minister, Laurent Nuñez, as the nation reels from a weekend of violent riots.

The post Emmanuel Macron Refuses Interior Minister’s Resignation After Weekend of Riots appeared first on Breitbart.

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France Imposes Curfews in Parts of Paris and Other Cities After Nationwide Rioting

The interior minister acknowledged that the police were underprepared for the scale of the riots. But Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu defended their efforts and pledged to restore order.

© Carl Court/Getty Images

Police officers in Paris during protests on Saturday.
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France’s Far Right Shifts Into Campaign Mode as Student Riots Erupt Into Violence

The National Rally, already ahead in the polls, presented itself as the party best placed to restore law and order.

© Philippe Lopez/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The aftermath of protests in central Bordeaux on Sunday.
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France on Fire: Macron Government Blames ‘Far-Left’ for Fuelling Nationwide Riots, Looting, and Arson

by Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart: The French government has accused the far-left of stoking the riots that engulfed the nation on Saturday, resulting in widespread clashes with police, looting of shops, as well as vandalism and arson of government buildings. What began last month as a small protest over teacher shortages at a school in the Créteil […]
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Chaos and looting roiled major cities as Europeans poured into the streets to protest rising living costs

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 17: Hundreds of young people protest against education reforms and budget cuts in Brussels, Belgium, on October 17, 2026. Police intervene using tear gas and water cannons against the protesters. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Protesters took to the streets in capitals across Europe over the weekend. In Brussels, demonstrators clashed with police.

Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images

  • 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
LISBON, PORTUGAL - OCTOBER 17: Participants hold signs and flags as thousands march at CGTP-IN decentralized national demonstration to demand higher wages, better pensions, and improved public services from Cais do Sodré to Rossio on October 17, 2026 in Lisbon, Portugal. The CGTP-IN demands a general increase in all wages of at least 15%, never less than 150 euros; the setting of the National Minimum Wage at 1,100 euros by 2027; the repeal of the expiration of collective bargaining agreements; the reduction of the workweek to 35 hours; the fight against precarious employment; and the strengthening of public services and the social functions of the State. CGTP-IN leader Tiago Oliveira stated that the demonstrations aim to ensure that every person who "feels the difficulties of daily life," due to the "drastic increase" in housing, fuel, and food prices, and who "feels public services deteriorating," to "make their voices heard" and have "the opportunity to fight against current policies." (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Getty Images)
Protestors in Lisbon demanded a general increase in wages.

Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Getty Images

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
Riot police uses a water cannon as demonstrators gather during a youth protest in Brussels on October 17, 2026. (Photo by NICOLAS MAETERLINCK / Belga / AFP via Getty Images) / Belgium OUT
Riot police used a water cannon to spray youth demonstrators in Brussels, Belgium on Saturday

NICOLAS MAETERLINCK / Belga / AFP via Getty Images

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
Demonstrators clash with Police during an anti-government protest organized by the Italia in Piazza movement, at Piazza Duomo in Milan, on October 17, 2026. Inspired by recent protests in France and Spain, demonstrators are protesting against the rising cost of living, low wages, high rents and public service shortcomings, demanding better living and working conditions. (Photo by Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP via Getty Images)
A demonstrator in Milan is encircled by riot police.

Piero CRUCIATTI / AFP via Getty Images

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.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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