Thanks to Vagabondish: Riot Tourism…2009’s Best International Hotbeds of Anarchy & Dissent
France and Italy
France’s infamous 2005-2006 uprising against the First Employment Contract (which allowed employers to end job contracts for anyone under 26 at any time during a two-year period without explanation or warning) has led speculators to believe that social welfare cuts and economic reform in the wake of the credit crisis could lead to another spirited reaction from the French people. Italy is in a similar predicament, and still feels the effects of 2001’s anti-G8 riots in Genoa which left a protester dead in the street.
In many European countries, where so much of a country’s infrastructure depends on government programs, changes and cuts aren’t received well by the people. Unhappy situations are rapidly escalated by political rhetoric and radicalized community organizing. With every government tightening belts in attempts to balance their budgets, the people will probably feel the repercussions of their government’s mismanagement soon. And that could lead to violent reactions in volatile countries like France and Italy.
Denmark
Denmark’s extremely militant squatting network in otherwise affluent Copenhagen makes it another country to get lucky in if you’re traveling to find a riot. In 2008 we saw violent repelling of the police around the “Free State of Christiania,” as cops and local politicians continued to put pressure on the squatter community that has operated semi-autonomously since the 1970s. Police were pelted with firebombs, stones, and bottles while attempting to navigate blockaded roads to deal with increasingly successful attacks by youth. As 2009 sets in, Denmark’s resistance community will be ready to oppose another forcible eviction. Like most of Europe, the motorcycle helmet is an unbelievably popular accessory during uprisings in Denmark, as is the gas mask, so dress accordingly.
Mary P. Madigan 
Anyone looking to participate in an insurrection against state power could save himself some airfare and head for one of the “tea party protests” here in the US. Considerably more dignified and less dangerous, not to mention more relevant to the situation of Americans.
Copenhagen is one thing, but anybody who goes to Russia for the frisson of experiencing cool street violence up close probably deserves what would likely happen to them.
Actually, a protest in Denmark might be equivalent to a protest in the Middle East. Many of the riots involve Muslim criminal gangs vs. Danish criminal gangs like the Hell’s Angels. Lots of young Danes are joining the Hell’s angels, even though they don’t have motorcycles, for an opportunity to fight the Muslim gangs.
I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near a protest in Russia today. Russia was one of the few places I’ve been where the people genuinely seem to fear the police. Jordan was another country like that.