00:00Europe is seeing a wave of protests in recent weeks, with young people taking to the streets over growing discontent
00:08about their future.
00:09In France, what began as student protests over poor learning conditions has grown into wider movement, with workers joining calls
00:18for change.
00:19More than half a million people demonstrated across the country on Thursday.
00:24Kaylee Lu joins us at the touchscreen for more on what's happening.
00:28Now, Kaylee, Europe is no stranger to protests.
00:30So why are we seeing this wave of anger now?
00:34So a lot of this comes down to people feeling their prospects are getting worse, especially young people who have
00:41been feeling uncertain about their future.
00:43And that anger has been building over rising prices, lack of job opportunities, as well as concerns over climate change.
00:51So if we take a look at some of the protests across Europe last month, we can see how far
00:56this unrest has spread.
00:57It started in France, as you mentioned earlier, over poor conditions in schools.
01:03Then it started to spread to Spain and Portugal, where young people were unhappy about unaffordable housing prices that brought
01:10them to the streets.
01:11And in Belgium, there were a lot of discontent over rising university fees.
01:18And we have also seen protests today in Italy and even in Denmark today.
01:24And if you recall, in Serbia, just last month, students took their protests against corruption and politics, and they won
01:32in recent elections.
01:33So different triggers in different countries, but a shared sense of frustration that's bringing people onto the streets.
01:41Now, so we're seeing that anger and frustration putting real pressure on governments.
01:49So how are they responding and is it working?
01:55So in France and Italy, governments have turned to tougher measures to contain the unrest.
02:02France has imposed local curfews and bans on the protests.
02:06Lawmakers are also considering making people who join violent groups pay up to 10,000 euros for damages, even if
02:14they didn't cause it themselves.
02:16The money could be taken from welfare payments that families receive from the governments.
02:20In Italy, they've even gone a step further in enacting emergency decrees.
02:25So people who take part in violence during protests could now face up to five years in prison.
02:31Police can also now preemptively detain minors aged 14 to 17.
02:37But while tougher measures may keep people off the streets, that doesn't mean their anger goes away.
02:42That's why Ariane Bogain from Northumbria University told me when we spoke.
02:48Let's have a listen.
02:54Obviously, when you are faced with the number of police forces that you see on the streets, when you are
03:01faced with a general discourse that is all about law and order,
03:06it might deter some protesters from going because they don't want to end up injured, they don't want to end
03:13up arrested.
03:13But it doesn't mean that the anger and the anxiety and all the grievances are going to go away.
03:20You can decrease the physical number of protests through a calm down, but the underlying reasons for protesting are not
03:32going to go away.
03:34Bogain says politicians across the political spectrum are under pressure to appear tough on public disorder.
03:39But she warns that the focus on policing risks overshadowing the economic grievances driving the protests.
03:45So we've heard politicians talking about the state of emergency, about sending the army, about jamming social medias, about revoking
03:54citizenship.
03:55And this has created this discourse around law and order, around violence.
04:06And it has obviously eclipsed the grievances.
04:11You have order versus chaos, you have, you know, good citizens versus thug, or you have police, you know, police
04:22brutality versus, you know, versus social movement.
04:27So it's very, very simplified.
04:29And it really doesn't help for democratic debate, because, you know, everyone is kind of like, I'm pro-law and
04:37order, therefore I'm not going to talk about the grievances.
04:41Or you can have, I'm all for the grievances and the police is too brutal.
04:46So anyone who wants to talk about both, that yes, order has to be maintained for protest, but the grievances
04:53are also important and not really heard.
05:01The question now is whether governments can restore order and address what's bringing people onto the streets.
05:08As Bogain points out, fewer protesters doesn't necessarily mean less anger.
05:12And cracking down may ease the immediate pressure, but without a response to those wider grievances, any calm could be
05:20short-lived.
05:21Back to you, Farhana.
05:24Right. Thank you, Kaylee.
Comments