France’s unrest sparks fears of wider backlash as discontent sweeps Europe
France faces violent nationwide protests over school conditions and living costs, sparking a broader European backlash as citizens demonstrate against economic pressures, housing crises, and governmental failures across multiple nations.
France faces violent nationwide protests over school conditions and living costs, sparking a broader European backlash as citizens demonstrate against economic pressures, housing crises, and governmental failures across multiple nations.
France faces violent nationwide protests over school conditions and living costs, sparking a broader European backlash as citizens demonstrate against economic pressures, housing crises, and governmental failures across multiple nations.
France’s classrooms have become flashpoints, and its streets, battlegrounds. Student protests over staff shortages and overcrowded classrooms have escalated into looting, arson and violent clashes. Now, the unrest threatens to spill across France’s borders, raising fears of a wider European backlash. What is fuelling the anger, and could the turmoil engulf other parts of Europe?
From classroom anger to street fury
France has a long history of popular protest. The latest wave of unrest began on September 17, when teachers at a high school in southeastern Paris protested staff shortages among teachers and other school employees. Students soon joined them, organising demonstrations and blockading schools. The movement rapidly spread to Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Lille and Marseille before taking on a nationwide scale.
The grievances soon extended beyond education. Overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages were the initial triggers, but anger increasingly focused on the rising cost of living and cuts in funding for public sector institutions. The widening demands reflected broader discontent over economic pressures and the state of public services. The entry of workers’ unions and farmers broadened the movement’s social base. As more groups joined the demonstrations, tensions mounted, and confrontations became increasingly frequent.
Protesters blockaded schools and universities, disrupting normal activities. As violence escalated, authorities were forced to impose partial curfews in several areas. In some places, the unrest turned destructive, with demonstrators looting shops, vandalising heritage buildings and setting them on fire. Thousands more are taking to the streets each day as the protests gather momentum.
Yellow Vests poised to reignite France’s street revolt
The unrest is also drawing the attention of the Yellow Vests movement, which shook France eight years ago with protests over rising prices and government policies. The movement, which mobilised public anger over economic pressures, is preparing to join the latest agitation. The Yellow Vests have announced plans to hold a rally in Paris on October 24, while major trade unions have also called for a nationwide protest on November 5.
Yellow Vests movement
The Yellow Vests movement emerged in France in November 2018 as a popular protest against a proposed hike in fuel taxes. Motorists and other protesters took to the streets wearing the yellow high-visibility jackets that vehicle owners in France are required to carry. Coordinated through social media, the movement had no central leadership or formal affiliation with political parties. The protests gathered momentum, eventually forcing President Emmanuel Macron’s government to roll back the planned fuel tax hike.
France in the grip of a deepening crisis
France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy, is grappling with mounting financial pressures as high public debt and a widening budget deficit deepen the government’s crisis. The country now spends more on interest payments on its debt than on defence and education. Thousands of teaching posts have been cut, while overcrowded classrooms and inadequate infrastructure have further aggravated the situation in schools. These shortcomings have fuelled the protests as France prepares for its next presidential election in April 2027.
France’s response to the unrest
The French government is treating the unrest as a serious challenge. President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu have condemned the looting of shops, destruction of public property and arson attacks on historic buildings.
The government has accused far-left groups of exploiting the protests to foment violence and disorder. Authorities have tightened security across the country, imposing curfews in areas where the situation has deteriorated. In affected areas, minors under 18 have been barred from taking to the streets without their parents.
Additional security personnel have also been deployed to contain the violence. Alongside the crackdown, the government has announced measures to address some of the protesters’ grievances. It plans to recruit 3,000 temporary teachers and has promised to involve students in decisions concerning schools. It has also scrapped plans to increase university registration fees.
A wave of discontent sweeps across Europe
While the immediate triggers vary from country to country, mounting frustration over the cost of meeting basic needs has emerged as a common thread. In France, shortcomings in the education system triggered the protests. In Spain, unaffordable housing and evictions have fuelled public anger, while rising property prices and rents have prompted demonstrations in Portugal.
Across these countries, the protests reflect a shared perception that governments are failing to meet people’s basic needs. Education, housing, employment and the rising cost of living have become flashpoints for discontent, bringing students onto the streets in countries with different political and economic circumstances. Students have also taken to the streets in Belgium, Italy, Albania and Greece, as well as in Indonesia. Their demands include better classroom facilities, improved educational standards and higher salaries for teachers.
Europe takes to the streets
While protests have erupted in France, Spain has been witnessing a wave of public anger of its own. An 87-year-old woman was forcibly evicted from the home she had lived in for 70 years after an investment company raised her rent by 230%. She died in hospital two weeks after leaving the house, triggering widespread outrage across Spain.
In Portugal, hundreds gathered in Lisbon to protest against similar practices along the Iberian coast, accusing investors of driving residents out of their homes. Official figures show that house prices in Portugal doubled between 2015 and 2024, rising at twice the rate of the European Union average.
In Milan, Italy, protests were driven by mounting pressure on household budgets. The unrest also saw masked rioters take to the streets and attack police with stones and explosives. In Albania, public anger is directed at Prime Minister Edi Rama, with protests fuelled by discontent over corruption, unemployment and poor educational standards. People have also been protesting for months against a luxury coastal development project backed by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
In Greece, thousands of students and teachers took to the streets in solidarity with the protests in France. They demanded increased funding for education and smaller class sizes. Rising rents and energy costs have also fuelled public discontent, adding to the pressure on the centre-right government ahead of next year’s election. Serbia, too, has been witnessing months of student-led protests against the government. A political movement called Students’ List, Students Win has gained widespread support since the agitation began in 2024.
Public anger intensified after the roof of the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed on November 1, 2024, killing 16 people. Critics of President Aleksandar Vučić have portrayed the disaster as a symbol of corruption in Serbia. The station had recently undergone an expensive renovation led by Chinese contractors.
Students and members of the public accused ministers and officials of corruption and negligence, alleging that lapses in construction safety had led to the collapse. The tragedy brought long-standing public resentment over corruption under Vučić’s government, restrictions on media freedom and the weakening of democratic institutions onto the streets.
Students and environmental activists had also been protesting for months against a lithium mining project in the Jadar Valley, planned in cooperation with the European Union. They warned that the project could cause serious environmental damage. Mounting public anger eventually forced ministers and officials in several departments to resign.
Indonesia joins the wave of unrest
Even as Indonesia grapples with protests over the hardships caused by smoke from forest fires, students have taken to the streets over rising prices and other issues. Students and young people are also protesting against alleged corruption and mismanagement under President Prabowo Subianto.
Governments roll out measures to quell public anger
In France, the government has announced plans to recruit around 3,000 additional teachers and dropped its proposal to hike university registration fees. In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez sought to push through emergency housing legislation to ban evictions until 2030. However, the bill failed to clear Parliament amid opposition from right-wing parties. Sánchez said a strong progressive majority was necessary to push through further reforms and called an early election, scheduled for November 29.