Hundreds of thousands of people joined separate, uncoordinated demonstrations on Saturday against the rising cost of living in Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal. The protests have put pressure on national governments across the European Union.
France saw one of its most turbulent protest days in decades. More than 550,000 people joined demonstrations, and police faced protesters across the country.
In Brussels, where students have already protested for weeks against university registration fees, police fired tear gas and water cannon. Officers said protesters launched missiles and set fires. In Liege, east of Brussels, police also used water cannon. They did not say how many people took part.
An estimated tens of thousands marched in Lisbon against the cost of living, low wages and difficulty finding housing in major cities. House prices in Portugal have more than doubled since 2017, and rents for new leases have risen 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 and Bologna, Italian police reported that, alongside peaceful rallies, protesters threw stones and clashed with officers. Italian media reported several injuries and arrests. None of the protests matched the scale of the nationwide rallies in France.
Alberto Alemanno, professor of EU law and policy at HEC Paris, told Al Jazeera that France is the epicentre and that there are signs the unrest is spreading. He said Saturday’s protests may not be the last and that new hotspots could emerge. He described “early stages” of mobilisation in Greece, Germany and Austria, with action expected in the coming week.
Alemanno said these are not one movement but several protests at the same time, with shared grievances including underfunded education, rising costs and, for students, uncertain prospects after graduation.
He linked the unrest to what he called an “unprecedented super-cycle of national elections” over the next 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,” he said.