Europe's student protests snowball into a cost-of-living revolt

Protests that started with French students demanding better schools have burst out of the classroom and onto Europe's streets. Marches have now been reported in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, according to France 24. The common thread: anger over the cost of living, housing people can't afford and public services that feel like they're coming apart.

Most of the demonstrations have stayed peaceful. Not all of them. Some have tipped into clashes, looting and destruction, and the crackdown has drawn its own backlash, with authorities accused of excessive force and mass arrests.

The timing isn't random. France, the European Union's second-largest economy, is grinding through sluggish growth while its public debt is projected to climb to 120 percent of GDP by 2027. Across the EU and the eurozone, inflation hit 3.8 percent in September, a sharp jump from 2.1 percent in 2024.

France 24 framed the moment with a blunt question: is Europe staring down a wider crisis of public discontent, and could this be the tipping point for governments already running low on public trust?

Two members of the European Parliament joined France 24 to unpack it. Nela Riehl, a German MEP with the Greens/EFA group, and Assita Kanko, a Belgian MEP with the European Conservatives and Reformists, weighed in on where the anger is headed.

The programme was prepared by Perrine Desplats, Oihana Almandoz, Isabelle Romero, Florine Hausfater and Charlotte Prudhomme.