DOMINANT ANGLE
Doha is deciphering a European challenge to the high cost of living, driven by young people, which goes beyond France and is running up against heavy security measures.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
According to Gulf Times, Saturday's mobilization brought together between 410,000 and 800,000 people in France, according to estimates from the authorities and the CGT, with 70,000 law enforcement members deployed.
- 02
Al Jazeera Arabic reports that the French Ministry of the Interior announced 1,314 arrests and 53 police officers injured, while the Catalan police arrested 128 people in Barcelona, including 73 minors.
- 03
Al Jazeera describes around 10,000 protesters, mostly young people, in Milan, facing hundreds of soldiers deployed by the Meloni government.
ANALYSIS
Doha, October 25, 2026. Qatari media, led by Al Jazeera and Gulf Times, are treating Saturday as an episode of a continental movement against the rising cost of living, rather than a strictly French affair.
Gulf Times reports that clashes erupted on Saturday in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, and Nantes, with police firing tear gas. The newspaper recalls that 70,000 law enforcement officers were deployed, that the previous week saw 2,700 arrests and hundreds of looted businesses, and that Saturday's mobilization brought together between 410,000 people according to the authorities and 800,000 according to the CGT, including 110,000 to 250,000 in Paris. It emphasizes that the streets are simmering six months ahead of an election to choose Emmanuel Macron's successor, in his final months of his second term.
The media outlet stresses the anger targeting the president: security measures, including curfews in certain urban areas, the ban on non-union demonstrations, and the order given to the police to prevent processions from reaching city centers, are perceived by protesters as an attack on the right to demonstrate. Macron had attributed the worst violence of the previous week to "far-left" groups that "want to bring down the republic".
Al Jazeera Arabic reported on Sunday the Interior Ministry's tally: 1,314 people arrested and 53 police officers injured, during the second consecutive weekend of unrest. The channel immediately broadened the scope to Spain, where Catalan police arrested 128 people in Barcelona, including 73 minors, for looting and vandalism, and noted that violence had also affected Italy and Albania.
Al Jazeera English devoted a report to Milan, where Giorgia Meloni's government deployed hundreds of soldiers and luxury shops were barricaded. Around 10,000 people marched at the height of the protest, chanting "We are all anti-fascists". The channel quoted 17-year-old high school students who denounced the price hikes and a government that, in their view, "has no respect for its citizens". Protests were called in eight Italian cities.
Qatari coverage thus prioritizes economic demands and youth, and treats the repressive aspect as a context, without repeating Minister Laurent Nuñez's statements on a more "positive" balance.
