Europe braces for massive Halloween weekend protests over cost of living

Massive protests are set to take place across Europe on Saturday as part of demonstrations driven by the cost of living and deficient public services, with police braced for potential violence after recent looting and riots.

Germany, France, Spain and Italy are among the nations expecting protests on Halloween following a recent wave of Gen-Z led marches across the continent.

France will deploy a 70,000-strong police presence on Saturday, officials said, after some of the worst rioting in decades erupted in cities across the country after student protests about the state of education in the country evolved into wider demonstrations about the cost of living and social security.

While the protests have been largely peaceful, police arrested 1,300 people last week after an estimated 410,000 took to the streets in cities across the country. Stores, public buildings and businesses have also been damaged since the protests erupted last month.

“Everyone is ​on deck to ensure an extremely firm response to any trouble,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told a news conference earlier this week as he set out security arrangements, adding there was “a very high ⁠risk” of unrest.

Measures introduced last week to protect shops would be reinforced, and that…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world