Anger erupts over high prices, housing shortages and poor education... protests intensify across Europe

[Financial News] Protests sparked by French high school students protesting poor educational conditions are spreading at an alarming rate.
According to French news agency AFP and others on the 17th (local time), more than 500,000 workers, students and ordinary citizens poured into the streets of major cities, including Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nantes and Strasbourg, denouncing surging prices, the government’s austerity policies and the resulting deterioration in public services.
Some protesters wearing hoods and masks clashed violently with riot police, as flames, tear gas and water cannon filled the downtown areas of major cities. France endured a turbulent day as the violence-marred protests left around 150 police officers injured and around 1,200 protesters arrested.
In Limoges, a small city in southwestern France, the city hall was engulfed in flames after being attacked by protesters, while downtown shops and a police station were damaged in Marseille, the country’s second-largest city. As several areas descended into chaos—including Lyon, the third-largest city, where a tourist information center caught fire after protesters threw fireworks and other objects—French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stern warning: “We will punish acts such as vandalism of public property and looting.”
The protests that began in France have already crossed borders and spread to neighboring countries. Across Europe, crowds have raised their voices in protest against high prices, soaring housing costs, poor education and the deterioration of public services caused by government austerity.
Large-scale protests were held that day in major Italian cities, including Rome, Milan, Turin and Bologna, against surging prices, low wages and poor public services. Tear gas spread as protesters clashed with police in Milan, while tension gripped Turin and Bologna as well.
The previous day, large numbers of Italian youths took to the streets in major cities in solidarity with the French student protests, calling on the government to hire more teachers and improve school facilities. In Turin, which has a strong tradition of student activism, some protesters threw glass bottles and stones at police. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni urged protesters to refrain from violence, saying, “We respect the freedom to protest, but setting cities on fire is another matter.”
In Belgium, which has had to tighten its belt because of excessive public debt, high school students’ protests against education budget cuts and poor educational conditions have continued for days, centered on Liège in the east, a major city in the French-speaking community. On the 17th, students protested high prices in central Brussels and Liège. Police also deployed water cannon and tear gas to disperse some hard-line protesters who were setting trash bins and electric scooters on fire.
Protests were also held that day in Portugal, including in the capital, Lisbon, and its second-largest city, Porto, against the growing burden of housing costs caused by rising prices and soaring home prices. According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency, home prices in Portugal surged 16% in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period a year earlier, amid a sharp rise in demand from immigrants and a shortage of housing supply—the highest increase among EU member states.
In Spain, protests against the housing crisis, sparked by last month's forced eviction of an 87-year-old, continued in major cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, pushing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez toward an early general election.
Meanwhile, across the Adriatic, anti-government protests calling for the government to step down have continued for months on the Balkan Peninsula.
In Albania, protests demanding the government’s resignation, which began last June in opposition to a resort development by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, have shown no signs of letting up in their fourth month. As the protests expanded to include university students’ demands for better educational conditions, protesters calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down clashed violently with police on the 17th, as riot-control rubber bullets, water cannon and tear gas filled the capital, Tirana.
In Serbia, too, anti-government protests have continued for nearly two years since a roof collapsed at a train station in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, in November 2024, killing 16 people.
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