More than 1,700 protests and riots involving 100 or more people have taken place across 31 European countries since mid-September, according to an analysis of data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project (ACLED), with France at the centre of a continent-wide wave of anger over the cost of living.

France alone accounted for more than 1,200 of the events recorded between 15 September and 30 October, over education, public services and the cost of living. Spain followed with 173, then Italy with 160, Germany with 70 and Portugal with 33, as demonstrations broke out in 30 countries beyond France, from Portugal to Poland.

The movement began in mid-September in French high schools, where students complained of overcrowded classrooms, a lack of teachers and crumbling buildings. It soon broadened into protests against the rising cost of living, drawing in trade unions and the yellow vests movement, with rioting and looting on the sidelines of some marches.

On 17 October alone, more than 500,000 people protested across France, according to government estimates. Turnout has fallen since then, but the protests have continued: on Saturday 7 November, the Interior Ministry counted 146,000 demonstrators nationwide, including 46,000 in Paris, while unions put the figures at 250,000 and 75,000. About 350 people were arrested, and 70,000 police and security personnel were deployed. Police used tear gas in Paris and Lyon, and clashes were reported in Toulouse, Marseille and Bordeaux. A banned yellow vest gathering at Place de la Concorde in Paris was blocked, and two of the movement's leading figures were arrested.

ACLED chief executive Clionadh Raleigh said the organisation had recorded an average of 20.5 demonstrations a day in France over the past five years. During the current protest cycle, she said, that figure has jumped to almost 66 a day, more than three times the usual rate. 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.

The level of confrontation has also set this cycle apart. Almost a quarter of events, 24.2 percent, have been classified as riots, compared with a median of just 1.9 percent in previous cycles. Only the unrest that followed the death of Nahel Merzouk in 2023 recorded a higher proportion. In the northern city of Lille, a teenager lost a hand when a grenade exploded as school protesters clashed with police.

The police response has drawn criticism. On 28 October, four United Nations experts mandated by the Human Rights Council expressed alarm at what they called the excessive use of force by French authorities in dispersing the student protests. They said the scale of arrests and detention, affecting several thousand people, mainly minors, appeared disproportionate and deterred demonstrators from exercising their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly.

Beyond France, the discontent has taken different forms but shares common threads of underfunded education, rising living costs and unaffordable housing. In Spain, tens of thousands of people rallied in early October after parliament rejected two emergency housing decrees on 2 October. In Italy, demonstrations over the cost-of-living crisis and unaffordable housing have led to clashes with police, including a protest in Milan on 17 October organised by the Italia in Piazza movement. In Portugal, tens of thousands of protesters marched against the cost-of-living crisis, low wages and an inability to access housing in major cities.

Alberto Alemanno, professor of European Union law and policy at HEC Paris Business School, told Al Jazeera that France was the epicentre of the movement, adding that there were signs it was now spreading beyond France. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is scheduled to meet trade and employee unions on Monday, and the government has said it intends to raise the minimum wage and increase funding for schools and teaching staff. France's public debt stands at 119 percent of gross domestic product.