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- Demonstrations in France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal bring hundreds of thousands of students, tenants and trade unionists onto the streets - French unrest prompts curfews, with more than 2,500 people taken into custody following widespread protests - Unions announce November general strikes in Italy and Spain
By Dilara Hamit
ANKARA (AA) - School blockades, housing encampments and mass marches are putting pressure on governments across Europe as protesters demand affordable homes, better-funded public services and wages that cover everyday expenses.
The movements have different origins, but students, tenants and trade unionists are increasingly sharing the streets.
In some cities, demonstrations have been followed by arson, looting and clashes with police, prompting curfews and mass arrests.
Here is a look at the grievances, scale and consequences of the protests in five countries.
- France
Protests emerged in September at schools in the Paris suburb of Creteil, where teacher shortages helped trigger student demonstrations and school blockades.
Several protesters suffered serious injuries during the October unrest, including two 17-year-olds: one lost an eye and another lost a hand in a grenade explosion.
Demands for more teachers, smaller classes and improved facilities broadened into a wider mobilization over living costs and public services, attracting trade unionists and Yellow Vest activists.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez reported that 550,000 people attended 110 demonstrations nationwide on Oct. 17, including 110,000 in Paris. Organizers estimated national turnout at 800,000, according to Le Monde.
Peaceful marches were followed in several cities by clashes, looting and attacks on public buildings. In Limoges, individuals set fire to the historic town hall at the end of the demonstration, devastating the building.
French authorities said roughly 3,000 businesses were affected by the weekend violence and nearly 1,000 security personnel were injured.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin said 2,513 people had been taken into custody following the weekend unrest.
On Monday, protesters also blocked the entrance to the Louvre museum in Paris
Authorities imposed localized overnight curfews in parts of Paris, Lyon and other cities.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the restrictions helped restore calm and promised a larger police deployment for further demonstrations planned for Oct. 24.
- Italy
School protests gathered pace in early October as students challenged inadequate education funding and deteriorating school conditions. The mobilizations have overlapped with discontent over wages, energy costs and public services.
The CGIL trade union and allied associations are demanding stronger public health care and education, better pay and action against insecure employment. They also oppose increased arms spending, calling for government resources to be directed toward social needs.
CGIL leader Maurizio Landini said more than 100,000 people attended the union-backed rally in Rome on Oct. 17, according to public broadcaster RAI.
He also called for a tax on large fortunes and announced a general strike for Nov. 20.
Separately, weekend unrest in Milan included burning bins, smashed windows and looted shops near the city’s cathedral.
"Following the Oct. 18 unrest, police took 271 people to headquarters and formally arrested 32, including 23 minors, Corriere della Sera reported, citing public security sources.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the violence.
On Tuesday, she also announced that 500 troops would be deployed to Milan to assist police following the clashes.
She said the Cabinet had also approved measures to ease the detention of minors and impose fines on parents for damage caused by their children.
- Belgium
Student protests spread to French-speaking Belgium on Oct. 1 following mobilizations in France, with Liege becoming an early center of demonstrations.
Students oppose education cuts, rising study costs and reforms they fear will make higher education less accessible.
Their grievances overlap with broader union opposition to government austerity measures.
Several hundred people demonstrated in Brussels on Oct. 17, while 200 to 250 gathered for a separate march in Liege, according to police.
Police subsequently reported 195 arrests across the two cities during that day's protests, which involved clashes, barricades and property damage. Officers used tear gas and water cannons.
- Spain
The eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her longtime Madrid home became a rallying point for anger over housing affordability.
An encampment began in Puerta del Sol on Sept. 26, and demonstrations and encampments spread to other cities as campaigners demanded affordable rents and stronger protection against forced evictions.
Government estimates put attendance at the Oct. 3 Madrid march at 70,000, while the Madrid tenants’ union claimed 500,000. More than 50 protests were called across Spain that day.
Tenant organizations have also pressed for restrictions on investment funds buying residential property and wider industrial action over housing.
The mobilization has had direct political consequences.
After parliament rejected two government housing decrees, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced an early election for Nov. 29.
Housing encampments remain in place. Five people were arrested following clashes at the end of the Oct. 3 demonstration in Valencia, broadcaster Onda Cero reported.
Major unions and tenant organizations have called a general strike related to housing for Nov. 11, taking housing demands beyond street marches and into broader consequences for workplaces and the economy.
- Portugal
Housing encampments developed in October as protesters challenged rising rents and living costs, joining union demands for better pay, pensions and public services.
Demonstrations took place in Lisbon, Porto and Coimbra on Oct. 17. Organizing union CGTP said “many tens of thousands” joined the Lisbon march. Police gave no crowd estimate.
Housing activists joined the demonstrations, linking their campaign to workers' concerns about the gap between incomes and everyday expenses.
Activists began to occupy Lisbon's Rossio square on Oct. 17, pitching around 200 tents, and had been in Porto's Dom Joao I square for around 10 days.
Police cleared housing protest encampments in Lisbon and Porto before dawn on Oct. 20.
In Lisbon, 55 people were arrested for alleged disobedience. No arrests were reported during the Porto clearance, where demonstrators complied with instructions to leave.
The clearances did not end the protests. Thousands returned to squares in both cities that evening, and a Lisbon assembly voted to pitch tents again. The detainees were subsequently released pending a court appearance.
Housing activists are demanding the withdrawal of legislation that would ease evictions and remove rent caps on new leases.
The CGTP union is also demanding controls on essential prices, higher wages and pensions. Its planned actions include a gathering outside parliament on Nov. 24 during the final budget vote.
