Young Europeans Protest Over Housing Costs and Education Cuts

Paris (GNP): Hundreds of thousands of high school and university students have rallied in France, Italy, Spain and other European countries in recent weeks. They say a political class that is not listening has left them shut out. Some of the protests have turned violent.

The demonstrations take different forms in different places. Students have blockaded schools in Rome, set up tent camps in Madrid and marched through French streets. Their demands are broadly shared, including action on soaring rents, more spending on education instead of defence and more job opportunities for young people.

The Italian wave began at Rome’s Cavour high school, the first to be occupied, and has spread across the capital. At Morgagni high school, students have barricaded the entrances with desks and point to crumbling buildings as evidence of neglect.

Similar complaints are heard in Athens, where a 17-year-old student in the Exarchia neighbourhood said plaster is falling from his school’s walls. Students there held an overnight protest in Syntagma Square on 20 October against rising housing costs and underfunded education, in solidarity with students in France and Spain.

In France, protesters and art students blocked the entrance to the Louvre Museum on 19 October in support of the school movement. Police estimated that nearly 200,000 people took part in one round of protests across the country over the high cost of living, while organisers claimed almost 800,000.

In Madrid, hundreds of people have camped in the central Puerta del Sol square since September to protest housing costs and evictions. One camper said protesters from other countries have visited to ask how the camp is organised and have swapped ideas with them.

Movements elsewhere in Europe are also learning from youth-led protests further afield, in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. Shared symbols, including the Jolly Roger pirate flag, have appeared at rallies in several countries.

Governments have largely responded by focusing on order. France has imposed partial curfews and Italy has deployed soldiers, and protesters say these steps hide their demands and could make matters worse. A 19-year-old psychology student in Lisbon called the political response disconnected from reality.

Researchers see a deeper problem behind the street action. Geoffrey Pleyers, president of the International Sociological Association, says young people feel they are not being heard at all.

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Rosario Forlenza, a professor at Rome’s Luiss University, describes a European generational revolt rooted in a social and economic crisis that politicians cannot answer in substance. He adds that young people are a shrinking share of the population, so their political and electoral weight is fading.

The violence has split opinion within the movement. An 18-year-old student in Rome said the focus on looting and vandalism turns hatred against students who are victims of the system.

Sabrina Brizzola, 24, coordinator of the Italian University Students’ Union, said organisations like hers should channel this generational rage. She added that students share the same concerns even when their methods of protest differ.

New demonstrations are planned in France and Italy on Saturday. Damiano Fusa, an 18-year-old Cavour student, said, “We are fighting and taking our future in our hands.”