Overview
- The unrest began with teacher strikes and student walkouts in France and has spread to Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Serbia and other countries as young people, unions and civic groups joined the protests.
- French demonstrations drew hundreds of thousands of people, produced widespread arrests, injuries to police and emergency workers, and prompted local curfews and heavy riot policing.
- A protest in Milan escalated into clashes, looting and burning barricades that local officials condemned even as they acknowledged the underlying anger over inflation and war-related grievances.
- Housing has been a central grievance in Iberia: Portugal has seen long-term property-price rises and a sharp jump in new-contract rents, and Spain’s high-profile eviction of an 87‑year‑old tenant that ended with her death has become a rallying symbol.
- The wave is morphing into political pressure in multiple states, from Albania’s antigovernment Flamingo movement to almost two years of Serbian student mobilization that coincides with snap elections, raising the risk of lasting policy and leadership consequences.