Hundreds of thousands of Europeans have marched in separate, uncoordinated demonstrations against rising living costs in their countries. The protests took place on Saturday in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal, forming a wave of unrest that has added pressure on national governments across the European Union.
France saw one of its most turbulent days of protest in decades, with more than 550,000 people joining demonstrations and police confronting demonstrators across the country. Other nations also saw large crowds, although none matched the scale of the French rallies.
Tear gas and water cannon in Belgium and Italy
In Brussels, which has already endured weeks of student protests over university registration fees, police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds. Officers said protesters had thrown missiles at them and set fires. In Liege, a smaller city east of the capital, police also deployed water cannon, but they did not say how many people attended.
In Italy, police in Milan and Bologna reported that peaceful cost of living rallies took place alongside incidents in which protesters threw stones and clashed with officers. Italian media reported several injuries and arrests.
Lisbon rally over housing and low wages
An estimated tens of thousands of people marched in Lisbon against the cost of living crisis, low wages and difficulty accessing housing in major cities. House prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, and rents for new leases have risen almost as much.
Portuguese Parliamentary Affairs Minister Carlos Abreu Amorim said on Friday that the “government will not yield to shouts from the street”. Protesters, for their part, said their leaders were “out of touch” with the problem.
Analyst warns protests could spread across Europe
None of the protests reached the scale of the nationwide rallies in France, but they may signal a spread into other European nations, according to Alberto Alemanno, Professor of EU Law and Policy at HEC Paris business school. He said France was the “epicentre of this movement” and that there were signs it was spreading beyond the country.
Alemanno said Saturday’s protests may not be the last in these countries and that new hotspots could emerge. He said the “early stages” of a movement were appearing in Greece, Germany and Austria, with mobilisation expected “in the coming week”.
He described the protests as several separate actions sharing “shared grievances”, including underfunded education, rising costs and, for students, uncertain prospects after graduation. The timing is significant, he said, as Europe prepares for what he called an “unprecedented super-cycle of national elections” over the next 12 months, with votes scheduled in Spain, France, Italy and Poland.
