Hundreds of thousands of Europeans took to the streets in separate, uncoordinated demonstrations against the rising cost of living in their countries. The marches on Saturday (17 October) in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal formed a wave of unrest putting pressure on governments across the European Union.
France: more than 550,000 take part
France saw one of its most intense days of protest in decades, with more than 550,000 people joining marches and police clashing with demonstrators across the country. But it was not the only country to see large-scale protests.
Belgium: police fire tear gas and water cannon
In the Belgian capital, Brussels – where students have protested for weeks against university registration fees – police fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse demonstrators. Authorities accused protesters of throwing objects at officers and setting fires. In Liege, a smaller city east of Brussels, police also deployed water cannon to break up crowds. Police did not release turnout figures.
Portugal: protests over housing and low pay
In Lisbon, an estimated tens of thousands marched against the cost-of-living crisis, low wages and the impossibility of finding housing in major cities. House prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, while rents on new leases have risen by nearly as much.
Portuguese parliamentary affairs minister Carlos Abreu Amorim said on Friday that "the government will not bow to the screams from the streets". Protesters said the leadership "does not grasp" the problem.
Italy: clashes in Milan and Bologna
Italian police said that in Milan and Bologna, alongside peaceful marches over living costs, some protesters threw stones and clashed with officers. Italian media reported numerous injuries and arrests.
Risk of spreading to other countries
According to Professor Alberto Alemanno, an expert in EU law and policy at the HEC Paris business school, none of the protests matched the scale of nationwide marches in France, but they could signal that the wave is spreading to other European countries.
"France is the epicentre of this movement… and there are now signs it is spilling beyond France," Alemanno told Al Jazeera. He said Saturday's protests may not be the last in many of these countries, and that new flashpoints could emerge.
In Greece, Germany and Austria, a movement is at an "early stage" and mobilisations are expected "in the coming week", he said. He explained that this is not a single movement but many protests happening at once, with some "shared grievances": underfunded education, rising costs and, for students, uncertain prospects after graduation.
The unrest comes at a pivotal moment for Europe, as the continent prepares for what Alemanno called an "unprecedented cycle of national elections" over the next 12 months, with votes expected in Spain, France, Italy and Poland.
"It is inevitable that all these protests, these mobilisations, will be at the centre of political debate," Alemanno said.
