France's protest movement has spread well beyond its borders, with demonstrations over living costs, wages and public services recorded in 30 other European countries since mid-September, according to an Al Jazeera analysis of conflict data.
The mapping, published on Sunday, draws on figures from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project (ACLED). It found more than 1,700 protests and riots involving at least 100 people across Europe between September 15 and October 30, with more than 1,200 of them in France alone.
The French movement began in mid-September, when high school students walked out over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings. It later widened into broader anger over the rising cost of living, drawing in trade unions and the "yellow vests" movement.
Why it matters
The figures suggest discontent over underfunded education, unaffordable housing and stagnant wages is not confined to France. Alberto Alemanno, a professor of European Union law and policy at HEC Paris Business School, told Al Jazeera last month that France was the centre of the movement and that there were signs it was spilling across borders. While rallies elsewhere have been smaller, the shared grievances point to a wider strain on public services and household budgets across the continent.
Turnout falls but unrest persists
On Saturday, 146,000 people demonstrated nationwide, including 46,000 in Paris, according to the Ministry of the Interior. Unions gave higher figures of 250,000 nationally and 75,000 in the capital. Al Jazeera reports that turnout was lower than in previous weeks.
Police still used tear gas and batons against protesters in Paris, and fired tear gas canisters at hundreds of people blocking a road in central Lyon, France's third-largest city. Around 70,000 security personnel were deployed, days after an estimated 575,000 people joined a union-organised rally.
The demonstrations have at times been marred by looting and violence, while police have faced accusations of using excessive force. Officers have used barricades, tear gas and batons against crowds.
On October 17 alone, government estimates put the number of protesters nationwide at more than 500,000.
A more confrontational cycle
ACLED chief executive Clionadh Raleigh said on October 19 that the organisation had recorded an average of 20.5 demonstrations a day in France over the past five years. During the current cycle, she said, that figure had risen to almost 66 a day — more than three times the usual rate.
Raleigh said protest cycles typically last about 20 days, or 36 for major movements. By ACLED's count, this one had reached 45 days and was still going.
She described the level of confrontation as the most striking difference. Almost a quarter of events — 24.2 percent — were classified as riots, against a median of 1.9 percent in previous cycles. Only the unrest that followed the death of Nahel Merzouk in 2023 recorded a higher share.
The police response has drawn international criticism. On October 28, four United Nations experts mandated by the Human Rights Council voiced alarm at what they called the excessive use of force by French authorities in dispersing student protests.
They said the scale of arrests and detention, affecting several thousand people, mainly minors, appeared disproportionate and discouraged demonstrators from exercising their rights to expression and peaceful assembly.
In the northern city of Lille, a teenager lost a hand when a grenade exploded during clashes between school protesters and police.
Where else protests have flared
According to the ACLED-based analysis cited by Al Jazeera, France's more than 1,200 protests and riots between September 15 and October 30 were followed by Spain with 173, Italy with 160, Germany with 70 and Portugal with 33.
In Spain, tens of thousands of people rallied in early October after parliament rejected two emergency housing decrees on October 2, a setback for Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's minority government.
In Italy, demonstrations over the cost-of-living crisis and unaffordable housing have led to clashes with police. In Portugal, tens of thousands marched against rising living costs, low wages and the difficulty of finding housing in major cities.
French students and teachers have called a new strike for Tuesday, according to The Times of Israel, while other outlets reported fresh nationwide protests centred on Paris over the weekend, with demonstrators defying police orders.
What to watch next is whether the Tuesday strike draws turnout back up after Saturday's decline, and whether the grievances driving protests in Spain, Italy and Portugal produce sustained movements of their own.
