The European cities facing protests from Paris to Milan as continent gripped by cost of living crisis
Violent protests have broken out across Europe amid growing frustration over the cost of living crisis, a lack of affordable housing and deteriorating school conditions.
As many as 550,000 people turned out across France on Saturday, according to authorities, to demonstrate against declining public services. Protests turned violent in Paris as shops were looted and cars set on fire in some of the city’s worst violence in years.
Young people waved Italian flags and let off flares in Milan as they rallied against the rising cost of living in scenes that were condemned by prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
Police used water cannon and teargas to break up the crowds after some masked rioters clashed with authorities and set off fires.
Tens of thousands of people meanwhile marched through central Lisbon in protest of the soaring cost of living and a deepening housing crisis, echoing weeks of demonstrations in Spain that prompted prime minister Pedro Sanchez to call a snap general election.
Pressure was also on Albania’s prime minister Edi Rama after a sixth consecutive day of protests over poor university conditions, high tuition fees and corruption, which saw hours-long violent clashes with police on Sunday.
France continues to be rocked by mass protests taking place nationwide, gathering momentum from student-led demonstrations that began last month in response to overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages.
Authorities said more than half a million people turned out to march on Saturday, including 110,000 in Paris alone. Organisers put the figure closer to 800,000.
While hundreds of thousands protested peacefully across France on Saturday, violent fringe groups targeted public buildings, looted luxury boutiques and supermarkets, and attacked police vehicles and officers.
French president Emmanuel Macron appealed for calm on Sunday as some of the protests boiled over into violent clashes with police. The government has blamed the violence on what it said were ultra-left groups, as well as criminals it said had instigated the looting.
More than 2,400 people were arrested across France, while nearly 1,000 officers were injured, according to the government. Police fired teargas in Paris on Sunday afternoon and protesters set fire to piles of bicycles.
One protester died on Saturday after suffering a cardiac arrest during demonstrations in the capital.
Tens of thousands of people have turned out across Spain in recent weeks following the eviction of 87-year-old Maria del Carmen Abascal, known as Maricarmen, from her Madrid home.
The pensioner was forcibly removed from her flat of 70 years after the property was bought by the investment firm Urbagestion, which tried to increase her rent by 230 per cent. She died suddenly in early October, two weeks after she was evicted.
