Hundreds of thousands of young people protested against the cost of living in France and Germany on Saturday, in a third weekend of mobilisation in France and coordinated demonstrations across Germany. The Straits Times reported clashes in Paris and other French cities on 31 October, with police using water cannon and pepper spray as masked demonstrators hurled fireworks, stones and bottles.
In France, over 320,000 people marched on Saturday, according to a round-up of the day’s events, in a third day of mobilisation against the cost of living and the lack of public services. In Germany, tens of thousands of young people protested in around thirty cities at the call of the ‘Gen Z regelt’ movement, with violence and looting reported in some places. Police in the Netherlands also detained 34 people during a youth protest in The Hague.
The protests matter beyond the street clashes: they signal that living costs have become a mobilising issue for younger voters in Europe’s two largest economies, just days before the United States holds its midterm elections on 3 November. Governments facing the same inflation pressures will be watching whether the movement sustains itself into a fourth weekend.
Sources: Straits Times, Horizon. Written in our own words for information only.