Protestsupdated 1h ago2 min read
France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Albania See Generation Z Protests Over Education Cuts
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Gen Z-led protests span six countries demanding higher education funding and against public service cuts. France: tens of thousands joined, 500 actions, 90 demonstrations nationwide amid clashes Oct 17.
Generation Z, many flashpoints
Tens of thousands of young people took to the streets in France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Albania as protests spread under the banner of a “Generation Z revolution.” France captured attention as protests lasted more than a month and drew as many as 266,000 people on a single day, with high school students initially leading the mobilizations. The student movement in France began on September 17 demanding better conditions in educational centers, and it escalated into a rejection of a bill aimed at covering the public deficit by using part of the education budget to fund pensions.
France saw more than 8,000 people detained, nine-tenths of them under 18, and at least 387 students, protesters, and teachers injured in clashes with the police. Belgium’s protests responded to cuts in Francophone education and to an anticipated rise in university tuition fees, while the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation approved a plan of nearly 500 million euros in cuts, spread across different sectors, including education.
Detentions, clashes, and strikes
In France, DW reported the Interior Ministry counted about 500 actions and more than 90 demonstrations across the country, with several tens of thousands of people expected, especially in Paris. DW said the call titled “Yellows and Youth” urged people to protest alongside the yellow vests movement, Generation Z, farmers, teachers, climate activists, retirees, and other groups. Belgium’s protests were tied to education funding and precarity, quoting FEF president Lenaïk Dumont: “Access to university should not depend on your ability to accumulate debt; education is a right, not a privilege.”
Belgium’s October 7 clashes in Liège led to 107 youths being detained, and Belgian unions threatened to call a general strike at the end of November if the government maintains proposals to reform automatic wage indexation and the VAT increase. Italy saw a 100,000-strong rally in Rome organized by CGIL, and on Sunday similar incidents left 160 detainees, many of them minors, while at least 141 police officers were injured.
Albania turns against Rama
In Albania, Marjana Koceku joined mass student protests calling for Prime Minister Edi Rama to step down after Rama hand-picked her to run for parliament.
Marjana Koceku “turned against him and joined mass student protests,” framing her shift as a break from the Socialist Party face Rama had hoped she would become.
Albania joined the wave of European protests, with thousands mobilizing alongside France, Belgium, Spain, and Italy to demand improvements in education and against social cuts.
Protests in Tirana continued for a fifth consecutive day, with thousands demanding the prime minister’s resignation and combining rejection of corruption and the rising cost of living with shortcomings in the education system and high university tuition fees.
The movement in Albania continued outrage since May, when negotiations between the public administration and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, to privatize the Albanian coast were revealed.