PARIS: A wave of protests over rising living costs, expensive housing, fuel and energy prices and strained public services is spreading across Europe, with France emerging as the most intense flashpoint of the unrest.
Large demonstrations and clashes have been reported in France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Albania and Greece, while protests linked to education funding and economic pressures have also been reported in Germany, Austria and Serbia.
France witnessed the sharpest escalation, as student and worker protests merged with wider anger over fuel prices and declining purchasing power. More than 550,000 people reportedly took part in nationwide demonstrations on October 17, followed by arrests, clashes and incidents of looting and vandalism.
The unrest has since taken different forms elsewhere. Italy has seen demonstrations over living costs, fuel prices, wages and public services, while housing affordability has driven protests in Spain and Portugal. Belgium has witnessed demonstrations over education costs and austerity measures, while student-led protests have added pressure on governments in Albania and Greece.
The growing unrest has raised concerns that Europe’s affordability crisis is increasingly becoming a wider political and social challenge.