A wave of cost-of-living, education and housing protests swept across Europe, with France at the center and violent clashes in several cities.

🇫🇷 France: About 550,000 marched nationwide; Limoges town hall and a Lyon tourist office were set on fire, around 1,800 people were arrested and about 150 police officers injured.

🇧🇪 Belgium: Student-led protests in Brussels and Liège turned violent, with police using tear gas and water cannons and making about 45 arrests in Liège.

🇮🇹 Italy: About 100,000 marched peacefully in Rome, while clashes near Milan’s Duomo led to around 50 detentions.

🇵🇹 Portugal: Tens of thousands protested the housing crisis and low wages, with demonstrators camping overnight in Lisbon.

🇦🇱 Albania: Student-led protests demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation entered a fifth day, with hundreds detained and more than 120 police injured.

🇪🇸 Spain: An ongoing housing movement has drawn mass marches and protest camps, contributing to the snap election set for November 29.

The protests are largely uncoordinated but share anger over rising prices, housing costs and underfunded public services, and early signs of mobilization have been reported in Greece, Germany and Austria.

NEW: Iran’s Parliament has approved Mehrdad Akhlaghi Ketabchi as the country’s new Defense Minister.

Ketabchi is a veteran Defense Ministry official who helped build and develop Iran’s missile industry.

He previously headed the Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group and later the Aerospace Industries Organization.

France: The aftermath of yesterday's violent protests in the streets of Paris.

BIG: Egypt’s National Defense Council has approved providing “all necessary and possible forms of support” to defend Saudi Arabia, as Houthi attacks on the kingdom intensify.

The council, chaired by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, declared full solidarity with Riyadh and called for diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis.

The move follows Sisi’s pledge on Saturday that Egypt would take any measure to defend Saudi Arabia if requested, stressing the role would be defensive only.

Egypt’s parliament was set to hold an emergency session on Sunday to consider authorizing the deployment.

GRAPHIC: A Catholic priest in Guayaquil, Ecuador died after a large wooden crucifix fell on him during a livestreamed Mass.

Father Patricio Alfredo Sánchez Molinari was struck on the head when the cross mounted behind the altar detached and fell forward.

Rioters Storm Town Halls and Loot Shops as France Faces Mass Protests

At least 1,800 people were arrested and over 500 emergency responders injured as protests turned violent across France, with a historic town hall set ablaze and shops looted in Paris.

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Bernie Sanders:

Trump understands that the American people are angry, and he has given them a way to express their anger in exactly the wrong ways.

In other words, Trump is there to represent, as a billionaire, his fellow billionaires.

You see them around him all the time. That's his job. That's what he does.

Bernie Sanders:

What Trump says to people: You can't afford health care, you can't afford housing, you can't afford prescriptions. You know what the answer is?

It's the undocumented people, it's the trans people, it's Black people, it's the Canadians, it's the Mexicans.

Every day there's a new person that we are supposed to hate. And people say, "Ah, that's the reason why. Damn undocumented, get rid of all of them and I'm gonna have health care."

Well, it doesn't quite work that way. But he's doing what demagogues have always done.

That's what they did to the Jews in Germany, right? Come up with an enemy.

Bernie Sanders:

For years, Americans heard the Democrats say, "Oh, we're going to do this, we're going to do that, and we're going to help you." And they didn't.

Democrats pushed through terrible trade deals, which cost us millions of good-paying manufacturing jobs, et cetera, et cetera.

They lost faith in the Democratic Party, and not unjustifiably.

Trump:

France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country.

Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!

Trump:

Wow. Our Country was scammed, and we now have the proof.

You have not heard the last of this!

Iran’s new Defense Minister:

Our finger is on the trigger; we are ready for war with the Zionists.

We are not building new factories at the old locations. Instead, we are building them inside mountains and in secure facilities.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi:

Our conditions are entirely clear and have been presented to the U.S. as part of a seven-day plan.

They offered some comments, which we are reviewing, but from our perspective, the plan remains on the table.

The conditions we have set out are nothing unusual. They are conditions that the U.S. had previously committed to.

Our conditions are fair, and if the U.S. is willing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, it can meet them within a few days.