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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
High prices, evictions, police violence and Vučić’s defeat — we publish the October roundup about the protest-filled autumn in Europe.
🚨 More than 200 minors were detained or held accountable during protests in Albania, journalists at BIRN report. The protests have been ongoing since May: then Albanians took to the streets against the construction of a resort linked to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, in a protected natural area. 13 in October students and schoolchildren joined the movement because of poor conditions in universities, and the protests escalated into demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
🎓 Two years ago students in Serbia protested after the canopy at the Novi Sad railway station collapsed and 16 people died. They blamed the tragedy on corruption in public contracts. Pro-government media at the time called the protesters schoolchildren skipping classes. Now the Student List, with candidates selected by movement activists, won the snap parliamentary elections, journalists at OCCRP and CINS write. Final results are not yet available, but Aleksandar Vučić, who has ruled the country for 14 years, has already conceded defeat.
💶 France, Spain and Italy have been hit by protests against high prices that turned into riots. However, as The Irish Times journalists write, these are several separate conflicts that coincided in time.
In France high school students have been protesting since September against a shortage of teachers, and after harsh police actions the movement spread to schools and universities across the country. 17 in October protesters against fuel prices joined them, and along the sides of marches in several cities riots began, after which authorities imposed curfews.
In Italy schoolchildren are protesting a decree that limits the share of pupils without Italian citizenship in a classroom. The anti-price march in Milan 17 in October turned into riots which, according to local media, were started not by students but by youth from the suburbs. In response the government lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years.
In Spain 87-year-old Maricarmen was evicted from the apartment where she had lived since 1956 because the new owner raised the rent from 500 to 2650 euros a month, an amount she could not afford. After that, protests against the housing crisis swept the country with demands to reduce rents and stop evictions. In Barcelona some protesters set bonfires in the streets, clashed with police and looted shops.
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