Europe on the brink as riots, strikes and scholar revolts erupt from Paris to Moscow
Europe is erupting with protests from France’s student revolt to Spain’s rent marches and strikes in Portugal and Italy, while unrest also flares in Kosovo, Serbia, Russia and beyond
Protesters shield themselves from tear gas fired by riot police in France(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Europe is bracing for a wave of street fury as protests and unrest flare across the continent, driven by soaring living costs, housing pain, and anger over public services.
France is facing some of its worst turmoil in decades, with student and union action disrupting huge numbers of schools and clashes spilling into tear gas and mass arrests.
In Spain, tens of thousands are marching in more than 50 cities over rocketing rents, with street blockades and violent confrontations reported. Beyond Western Europe, flashpoints are erupting from Kosovo and Serbia to Moscow, with fresh demonstrations also reported in Georgia, Albania, Türkiye, Slovakia and Greece.
Protesters take part in a demonstration in solidarity with high-school students in Paris(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Albania
Albania’s capital, Tirana, has been hit by a wave of highly charged political protests. Citizens and local municipalities are fiercely opposing a controversial new territorial reform bill that proposes merging local government units.
Daily rallies have been staged outside the Parliament building to disrupt legislative sessions. The main opposition party has mobilised nationwide rallies to fight the government’s centralisation plans.
Belgium
The French-speaking Wallonia region and the capital city of Brussels are seeing violent copycat student mobilisations. Secondary school students have set up blockades to protest educational cost-cutting plans and regional education reforms, leading to over a hundred arrests.
France
The country is experiencing its most intense civil unrest in decades. A massive nationwide wave of student and trade union protests has shuttered or disrupted up to half of France’s high schools.
Demonstrators are protesting severe understaffing, teacher shortages, dilapidated school buildings, and broader government budget cuts. More about it here.
Georgia
Georgia is locked in an intense, ongoing political crisis and pro-democracy movement. Massive public outrage has intensified following a move by the ruling Georgian Dream party to legally ban major opposition parties.
Tensions flared further over a widening prison scandal involving allegations of systemic abuse by guards. Demonstrators have repeatedly taken to the streets of Tbilisi, clashing with police who are under scrutiny for using chemical agents and excessive force to clear crowd blockades.
Greece
The newest, most acute wave of unrest in Greece is centered on anti-war sentiment and geopolitical pushback against the United States. Mass outrage was sparked by the arrival of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Athens to finalize the sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets and negotiate US military base operations in Greece.
Trade unions, student organizations, and left-wing factions are furious over Greece’s tightening defense alliances. They argue that the government’s compliance with NATO ties the Greek public to active conflicts from Ukraine to the Middle East and implicates them in regional violence.
Thousands of protesters have flooded central Athens, marching from Syntagma Square toward the US Embassy. Demonstrators are clashing with police barricades, leading to standoffs in the capital.
To regain control, Greek authorities implemented a blanket 24-hour ban on all outdoor public gatherings and vehicle convoys in central Athens. Police have deployed heavy-handed tactics and draconian containment measures to prevent crowds from reaching the embassy gates
Italy
Building on a high volume of industrial actions earlier in the year, Italy continues to see widespread labor strikes and public sector protests. These demonstrations are heavily concentrated in the transport, healthcare, and public administration sectors as workers push back against inflation and cost-of-living pressures.
Kosovo
Kosovo has just been gripped by intense, violent clashes in its capital, Pristina. Mass anger erupted following a major verdict by the Hague-based international war crimes court, which sentenced former President Hashim Thaci and other commanders of the revered Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to lengthy prison terms.
Protesters have laid siege to parliament and government buildings, throwing stones and firecrackers while trying to block lawmakers inside. They are demanding emergency legislation to aggressively curb the powers of the international court.
Riot police have deployed heavy water cannons and tear gas, resulting in numerous civilian and police injuries.
Portugal
The education sector remains heavily disrupted due to an indefinite national teachers’ strike orchestrated by the FENPROF union. Educators are protesting forced overtime and unpaid hours, explicitly linking their labour grievances to the broader underfunding issues triggering unrest across the border in France.
Russia
Despite severe domestic restrictions on dissent, unusual and volatile protests have erupted in the heart of Moscow. While the government frequently tries to use localised pretexts to shut down mobile networks and curb dissent, economic strain, forced street mobilisations for the military, and allegations of severe political corruption have driven people over the edge.
A state-approved march organised by the Communist Party completely broke its intended script, transforming into an open anti-regime revolt. Crowds took to the streets of central Moscow explicitly chanting “Down with the Tsar”, demanding accountability for stolen elections and administrative corruption.
The Kremlin has responded with immediate, heavy-handed police crackdowns and waves of arrests to prevent the unrest from spreading to other regions.
Serbia
People march in support of the “Student List – Students Win” towards the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), in Belgrade, Serbia(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Serbia is under extreme political tension ahead of a highly anticipated snap parliamentary election. Sustained, anti-government, student-led protests have been raging since a tragic railway canopy collapse in Novi Sad killed 16 people.
The disaster sparked nationwide outrage over systemic state corruption and regulatory negligence. The student-led movement has grown into a formidable political force, officially entering a youth-backed electoral alliance known as the Student List.
The pressure has caused total political chaos: the Prime Minister resigned, and President Aleksandar Vučić dramatically stepped down from the presidency to pivot and run for Prime Minister, trying to secure his party’s survival amid fierce crackdowns on independent media.
Slovakia
Mass protests have been sweeping across Slovakia targeting Prime Minister Robert Fico’s populist-nationalist government. The most recent major wave ignited over a highly contested plan to scrap mail-in voting for Slovaks living abroad, a move the opposition says deliberately targets pro-Western voters.
Citizens are also fiercely opposing sweeping amendments to the criminal code, the dismantling of the state’s whistleblower protection agency, and laws targeting NGOs that critics state mirror Russia’s “foreign agent” restrictions. Demonstrators under the slogan “Slovakia is Europe” are further pushing back against Fico’s friendly relations with Moscow, his unannounced meetings with Vladimir Putin, and cuts to military aid for Ukraine.
Protests have expanded well beyond the liberal capital of Bratislava, seeing massive turnouts of over 100,000 people across dozens of cities and towns. In response to the unrest, Fico has accused opposition organizers of acting under foreign influence to orchestrate a “coup” and has threatened to deport foreign activists.
Spain
Demonstrators clash with riot police in central Barcelona(Image: Marc Asensio Clupes/JNA via ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
Tens of thousands of people are taking part in widespread housing rights protests spanning over 50 cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia. Driven by skyrocketing rental prices and real estate speculation, the demonstrations have escalated into intense clashes with riot police, featuring street blockades and fires in major plazas.
Türkiye
Türkiye continues to see tightly suppressed but volatile civil rights and freedom of expression protests. Public anger is focused on a severe, state-wide clampdown on independent journalism and civil liberties.
Massive demonstrations, particularly centered around LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups in Istanbul, have resulted in heavy-handed police crackdowns and hundreds of aggressive street detentions.
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