Mapping France’s Protest Wave: How Demonstrations Spread Across Europe
France at the centre
France’s protest movement began in mid-September, when high school students walked out over crowded classrooms, teacher shortages and deteriorating school buildings. It later widened to include objections to rising living costs, drawing in trade unions and the yellow vests movement.
ACLED data recorded more than 1,200 French protests and riots involving at least 100 people between September 15 and October 30. Government estimates put nationwide participation at more than 500,000 on October 17.
A sharper rise in confrontation
ACLED CEO Clionadh Raleigh said the average number of demonstrations in France rose from 20.5 a day over the past five years to almost 66 a day during the current protest period. She said 24.2 percent of events were classified as riots, compared with a median of 1.9 percent in earlier cycles.
Turnout at recent rallies was lower than in previous weeks, but police used tear gas and batons against protesters in Paris and tear gas against people blocking a central Lyon road. About 70,000 security personnel were deployed, days after an estimated 575,000 people attended a union-organised rally. A statement said arrests and detention affecting several thousand people, mainly minors, appeared disproportionate and discouraged people from exercising their rights to expression and peaceful assembly.
Protests beyond France
Across Europe, more than 1,700 protests and riots involving at least 100 people were recorded during the period. France’s demonstrations were larger than those elsewhere, but Alberto Alemanno of HEC Paris Business School said protests in other countries could signal discontent spreading.
The protests share concerns over underfunded education, rising living costs and unaffordable housing. Alemanno described France as the movement’s epicentre and said there were signs it was extending beyond the country.
Key points
- France recorded more than 1,200 protests and riots from September 15 to October 30.
- More than 1,700 demonstrations occurred across 31 European countries during that period.
- ACLED classified 24.2 percent of French events as riots, compared with a previous-cycle median of 1.9 percent.
- Protests in Spain and Portugal focused on housing and living costs.