Hundreds of thousands of Europeans took to the streets on Saturday in separate, uncoordinated demonstrations against the rising cost of living in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal, putting pressure on governments across the European Union.
France experienced one of its most turbulent days of protests in decades. More than 550,000 people joined demonstrations, according to the Ministry of Interior, and police faced off with protesters across the country. Marches that followed weeks of student protests degenerated into clashes, looting and fires after violent fringe groups targeted public buildings, luxury boutiques and supermarkets and attacked police vehicles and officers.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said 1,200 people were arrested and 150 police officers were hurt. “It’s a miracle the toll wasn’t higher,” he said as he visited officers deployed in central Paris. The French news agency AFP reported that dozens of shops were looted in Paris, Marseille, Nice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Limoges, Lille, Toulouse and Strasbourg. Paris Mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said whole streets in the capital “have been devastated”.
A fire set by masked protesters in Limoges largely destroyed the more than 140-year-old town hall. City halls in Marseille and Lille were broken into and vandalised, and in Lyon protesters torched the city’s tourist office. President Emmanuel Macron said on X that those responsible would be “prosecuted and punished”.
In Brussels, which has already seen weeks of student protests against university registration fees, police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters they accused of launching missiles and setting fires. In Liege, east of Brussels, police also deployed water cannon. Police did not say how many people attended.
In Lisbon, an estimated tens of thousands marched against the cost of living crisis, low wages and an inability to access housing in major cities. House prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, while rents for new leases have increased nearly as much. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Carlos Abreu Amorim said on Friday that the “government will not yield to shouts from the street”. Protesters said their leaders are “out of touch” with the problem.
In Milan, a march against wars and rising living costs began peacefully, then masked protesters threw stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police, looted stores and set property on fire in the city centre. Piazza del Duomo and a luxury arcade that would usually be full of shoppers were emptied, and barricades made from bar tables were set alight. Police used water cannon and tear gas. At least two police officers were injured, and about 50 demonstrators, many of them minors, were detained, the Italian LaPresse news agency reported. In Bologna, police also reported that, alongside peaceful rallies, protesters threw stones and clashed with officers.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence. “Demonstrating is a right. Setting our cities ablaze is not,” she wrote on X, blaming “hooligans who exploit demonstrations to sow chaos”. Milan’s centre-left mayor, Giuseppe Sala, said “the reasons for the protests were understandable. The violence against law enforcement and serious damage to the city are not justifiable.”
Although protests in the other countries did not reach the same scale as the rallies in France, they may be a sign of discontent spilling over, Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law and policy at HEC Paris Business School, told Al Jazeera. “France is the epicentre of this movement … and there are signs now that this is spreading beyond France,” he said. He said Saturday’s protests may not be the last in many of these countries and that new hotspots could emerge. In Greece, Germany and Austria, he said, the “early stages” of a movement are emerging, with mobilisation expected “in the coming week”.
They are not a single movement, he explained, but several protests happening at the same time, with some “shared grievances”: underfunded education, rising living costs and, for students, uncertain prospects after graduation. The unrest comes as Europe prepares for an “unprecedented super-cycle of national elections” in the coming 12 months, with votes scheduled in Spain, France, Italy and Poland. “Inevitably, all these protests, all these mobilisations, are going to be at the centre of the political conversation,” Alemanno said.