MADRID (AP) — Rising fuel prices, dissatisfaction with the state of schools, declining public services and a housing crisis have created a perfectly stormy climate for an autumn of protests across Europe.
Crowds have taken to the streets for weeks in major cities, leading to arrests, looting, injuries and violence in France, Italy and Albania. In Spain and Portugal, tent camps have sprung up to protest against high rents and housing costs.
Young Europeans experience “a strong sense of uncertainty and lack of control,” said María Silvestre, a sociology professor at the University of Deusto in Spain. “And when specific situations arise, a spark suddenly ignites, capable of channeling this discontent and pushing people into the streets.”
Cities have turned into battlegrounds as major EU economies including France, Italy and Spain move closer to crucial elections, while far-right parties have made electoral gains in Germany and could do the same elsewhere. It also comes as Europe faces a critical moment in its support for Ukraine, with President Donald Trump making overtures to President Vladimir Putin, even as Russia is accused of increasingly frequent hybrid attacks in NATO countries.
Right-wing politicians took advantage of the chaos. As protests in France appear widespread, Trump has framed immigrants as responsible for the destruction, writing on his Truth Social platform: “Migrants have taken over France. They need to CLOSE THE BORDERS, FAST! Monday.
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Many protests have been fueled by frustrated young people. Other elements, including masked agitators dressed in black, fomented the violence, but French authorities and police did not blame immigrants.
Here is an overview of the causes of the problems:
Students say educational resources are dwindling
In France, which has a centuries-old tradition of popular protest, high school students have staged blockades and demonstrations for more than three weeks, demanding more resources for schools they say are understaffed and dilapidated, particularly in working-class neighborhoods.
The protests then widened when the French CGT union and other activists joined in while students took a break for fall break. The movement now includes demands regarding the rising cost of living and public services.
Despite hundreds of thousands of people marching peacefully, the weekend’s unrest led to 2,400 arrests and serious unrest in parts of France, including looting in Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux. In Limoges, flames ravaged the 19th century town hall and almost destroyed the building. Some schools were burned. As students and rioters threw firebombs and law enforcement responded with tear gas, hundreds of people were injured.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Saturday’s violence, accusing far-left activists of trying to sow chaos by attacking buildings and police.
“Those who looted will have to pay for the damage, and those who sought to overthrow the Republic will have to be held accountable,” Macron said on Sunday in a rare televised address.
In Spain, primary and secondary school teachers began an indefinite strike in Madrid last week to demand better pay and working conditions. Disgruntled teachers staged similar walkouts elsewhere in Spain this year.
Unaffordable housing holds back young people
A man installs a cover on the roof of a makeshift encampment set up Friday by protesters demanding stricter laws to protect tenants in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, Spain. Photo by Bernat Armangue/AP
At Puerta del Sol in central Madrid, tarpaulin tents have covered the square for weeks to protest rising housing prices, triggered by the eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman who later died while hospitalized. Smaller protest camps followed in other Spanish cities.
Public pressure led the ruling socialist government to approve affordable housing measures, but these did not have the support of Parliament, triggering snap elections announced by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for November. A general strike has also been called for November – the first in 14 years.
Similar protests broke out in Portugal’s biggest cities, Lisbon and Porto, as well as Barcelona, a focal point of Spain’s overtourism and housing problems.
Spain’s minimum wage is 1,221 euros ($1,370), while the average monthly rent for an 80-square-meter apartment is around 1,130 euros (around $1,270), according to an analysis by business newspaper Expansión.
“Most of my salary goes to rent. My roommate is struggling to make ends meet, as am I,” said Diana Manzanares, a 20-year-old waitress in the Madrid encampment. “This is my reality and the reality of most of us living in this city.”
Unsustainable cost of living as inflation rises in Italy
Police confront protesters at “Italia in Piazza” in Milan, Italy, on Saturday. Photo by Stefano Porta/LaPresse via AP
“Italia in Piazza,” or Italy in the Streets, galvanized thousands of protesters, expressing demands for better jobs, health care, education and access to housing, as well as higher wages. Inflation in Italy reached 4.2% in September, above the euro zone’s 3.8%, according to government data.
The peaceful marches were followed by violent riots in Turin and Bologna, as well as in Milan, Italy’s financial and fashion capital, where masked rioters clashed with police, looted stores and burned properties. Milan police said 271 people were arrested – most of them minors – and 14 security officers were injured during two days of unrest.
Today, a newly formed group calling itself the “October 17 Movement” announced what it describes as a “permanent mobilization” to demonstrate every Saturday at 3 p.m. in cities across Italy.
Albanian students join protests against corruption
Anti-government protests have lasted for more than a week in Tirana, the Albanian capital, with clashes escalating after high school and university students joined the broad anti-government “Flamingo” movement calling for the resignation of socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Rama condemned the protesters as being “ideologized and radicalized” by antifa, an umbrella term for loosely organized far-left activists in the United States, where President Donald Trump has designated the movement a terrorist organization.
Ending corruption is a major demand of the movement, which owes its name to the natural habitat of pink flamingos in an area where Rama’s government has agreed to allow a major development of luxury tourism linked to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. They also want protections in health care, education and public pensions, according to its website.
In Serbia, university students who have been leading massive demonstrations against corruption for almost two years are contesting during the legislative elections the attempt to return to power by the former populist leader of this Balkan country, Aleksandar Vucic.
The authoritarian former president hopes to be named prime minister after the October 25 vote. The Students’ List, supported by young people, seems to be moving closer to Vucic’s party, which makes the outcome uncertain and fuels fears of possible violence.
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