THERE were huge uprisings and clashes between workers and police at numerous protests in towns and cities across Europe on Saturday.
Police fired water cannon at demonstrators in Frankfurt, German capitalism’s financial hub, and also in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg.
Tens of thousands of young people participated in nationwide ‘Gen Z regelt’ (Gen Z takes charge) protests across 34 German cities.
Tensions escalated in the evening as groups of young people refused to disperse from their demonstrations, which were to defend public services and to protest over the soaring cost of living, education cuts, housing and forced conscription into the armed forces, among other issues.
‘Gen Z regelt’ said 120,000 people took part in the protests in major cities, including Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg.
Gen Z regelt spokesman Lina Friedrich said: ‘What matters most to us is better support for the health and education systems. We are against compulsory military service and we are in favour of a fairer distribution of the burden.’
There were similar youth-led mass protests in France, where more than 320,000 people also demonstrated in a third consecutive weekend of protests in cities across the country, demanding action on the high cost of living and poor public services, especially in the education sector.
Thousands of police officers were deployed across the country and they fired tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators in some cities.
There were more than 770 arrests across France during the demonstrations on Saturday.
French protest organisers, the Gilet Jaune (Yellow Vests), said dozens of protesters have been seriously injured during recent demonstrations across the country, with many hurt by ‘grenades’.
There were also protests and clashes in Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania.
Violent removal of Lisbon camp
IN PORTUGAL, police moved to clear a new tent camp that had been assembled after thousands marched to protest against a rental bill that they argue will worsen the housing crisis in the country, where house prices have more than doubled over the past decade.
Dozens of officers, some accompanied by police dogs, moved into Rossio Square in Lisbon early on Sunday.
Police used shields and batons to disperse housing protesters from a tent camp there.
Dozens of officers, some accompanied by police dogs, moved into Rossio Square at about 4.30am yesterday, a day after thousands marched demanding the government withdraw a rental bill they say will deepen the country’s housing crisis.
Protesters had erected more than 50 tents following Saturday’s march through Lisbon.
Police commander Iuri Rodrigues issued three warnings to remove the tents, saying they had been erected illegally and that anyone resisting their removal could face disobedience charges.
Hundreds of demonstrators shielding the camp were dispersed, while police also dismantled a smaller encampment in Porto’s Dom Joao I Square.
Earlier, lawmaker Pedro Delgado Alves said Rossio Square was peaceful and that nothing justified ‘a police intervention involving force, physical violence or baton charges, the kind of scenes we witnessed last week’.
The intervention followed operations in the same squares the previous Sunday, when police arrested 25 people in Lisbon and six in Porto.
