The French are prone to street protest. This seems indisputable. But there must be something more, something that explains a practically endemic frustration. And this something could be related to the fact that France feels special, like a unique beacon of light in the world. The supposed French identity, constructed, like all others, in the 19th century, is based on the invention of grandeur.

When in some French cities they have banned demonstrations or when the Paris government wants to control the networks because that is where the agitation orders pass through, it is because social unrest has definitively infiltrated the heart of the system of freedoms, with a capacity for penetration capable of rusting all the parts of a democracy's engine.

500 soldiers on the streets of Milan. This is the response from Giorgia Meloni's far-right executive to this weekend's riots in the Italian city, where violent acts were particularly serious. Replicating what was happening in France, protests against the rising cost of living ended in clashes between police and demonstrators and the looting of some luxury shops and stores. Meloni herself confirmed this Tuesday, after a meeting of the council of ministers, the approval of the military reinforcement, which will extend "until the end of the year".

France has experienced a quiet night after days of riots and the chaos experienced during the weekend following the protest over the rising cost of living. Only a few unauthorized demonstrations in Lyon and Rennes, and the occasional scene of looting, have disturbed the calm. The bans on demonstrations and the curfews decreed in different cities have served to return –at least for now– to normality. Large cities such as Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, and Lille will maintain partial curfews for tonight. In the case of the capital, the curfew affects all citizens –including tourists–, the Place de la République, and the Les Halles commercial area, epicenters of the violent acts of recent days. Despite the return of calm, the social crisis is far from being resolved and tension will return to the streets this Saturday in a new day of protest called by the yellow vests movement.

“It is getting dark in the land of lights”. Someone wrote this on a window of a ground floor in a Paris street. What is happening is not a moment of collective rage, but the consequence of a presidential model absolutely detached from the citizenry. We can go into a thousand details and speculations, but the chaos that France is currently experiencing expresses the failure of President Emmanuel Macron. Six months before the end of his term, his political figure has run out of breath and is now only lashing out senselessly. It is the culmination of arrogance. Of a character who has not understood that the presidency of the Republic neither grants impunity nor is above the citizenry, to whom it must be accountable. And what has happened is that the president's insolence, the self-complacency that illuminates him, has created the sensation that France was neglected. And in part it is true. But above all, it is the inability to understand and address the concerns of the citizens that has trapped the president. And it seems as if he still does not want to realize it.

It is not just France. In Italy, Belgium, Germany, Albania, Greece, Portugal, and Spain, there are also protests underway. Most of the mobilizations have a common background: protesting against the rising cost of living. In the case of Italy, the protests have escalated this weekend in parallel to those in France. In the north of the country, the mobilizations have ended in riots, especially in Milan, where the police have arrested 271 people and the Prosecutor's Office has requested preventive detention for eleven protesters.

The week begins marked by the landscape after the battle this weekend in France.

Smashed shop windows, emptied stores, luxury bags disappearing in mass. On October 17th, several French luxury houses were looted during a day of social protests across the country. Dior, Celine, Hermès, Louis Vuitton… These are not just any shops, but temples of exclusivity, showcases of a sector that trades on distinction—and social inequality. The looting occurred in the context of the French student mobilizations, which demand more resources for public education, more teachers, better infrastructure, and more equal opportunities. But what does demanding quality public education have to do with looting a boutique of luxury?

Student protests in France are no longer just those of high school students. This Thursday, university students joined various demonstrations called throughout the French state, and more and more sectors are supporting the adolescents' mobilizations. Unions and student and teacher organizations have called for a new day of major mobilizations for October 13, and on November 5, the major French unions are also calling for a day of protest.

France has been experiencing historic student protests for three weeks. Students are blocking educational centers, clashing with the police, and thus paving the way for other sectors of the population who, suffocated by the cost of living and dissatisfied with the budget prepared by Sébastien Lecornu's executive, are pointing toward broader mobilizations throughout the French state during October.

The streets are also applying pressure just hours before Pedro Sánchez's government brings the new housing decree-law to the Council of Ministers. Also in Barcelona, where this Monday the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, held various events and ended the day at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya at the awards ceremony for La Vanguardia. 2,000 people according to the Guàrdia Urbana and 20,000 according to the organizers gathered on Avinguda Diagonal to demand that the new decree include, among other things, the indefinite extension of rental contracts and the suspension of evictions.

Key days for the future of the 86 workers who make up the Leche Pascual workforce in Gurb (Osona). After the Castilian company sealed the sale of the plant to the Catalan Casa Tarradellas, the dairy company's factory has been partially dismantled for months and the handover will take place on July 31. However, the workers' future remains uncertain: although there has been talk of an eventual incorporation into Casa Tarradellas, currently the buyer's offers do not convince the staff, as the conditions they propose are not precise enough. remains uncertain: while an eventual incorporation into Casa Tarradellas has been discussed, currently the buyer's offers do not convince the staff, as the conditions they propose are not precise enough.

Thousands of migrants crowded around plastic bags, boxes and trash bags with the belongings they managed to salvage, and women hiding babies under blankets. This was the image of recent weeks in a camp in a South African city after anti-immigrant activists asked undocumented foreigners to leave the country before June 30. An image that contrasts with that of this Tuesday: empty streets, businesses with their shutters down, deserted transport stations and a strong police presence. This is how several South African cities woke up on a day marked by demonstrations called by the anti-immigrant group March and March and the opposition party ActionSA, who have set June 30 as the deadline for irregular immigrants to leave the country.

This morning there is again a meeting between the Department of Education and the teaching unions at the headquarters of the ministry. The unions will not have to walk far to get there, because they have spent the night locked in the ministry.

Today it is Barcelona's turn in the teachers' protests and the strikers have gathered in one of the most visible places in the city, the Sagrada Família. These strikes that teachers are carrying out by regions are multiplying the effect of the sector in struggle and are making the crisis long for the Government.Meanwhile, the Government is preparing for this week, which will be the staging of the budget agreement between the Government, Esquerra and Comuns.While Esquerra is convening the national council today to give the green light to the budgets, President Salvador Illa is going to Sant Sadurní d’Anoia today to present the initiative for the orbital railway line, the result of the agreement between the Government and Esquerra.

The education sector launches a new cycle of mobilizations in defense of public education. On the eve of Thursday's strike day in early childhood education (0-3) –the first of seventeen called for next month across all educational stages–, teachers have staged various traffic disruptions, protests, and actions in schools since early this morning.

The 4th year ESO students from the Narcís Oller Institute in Valls are confronting the teaching staff with protests outside the school and absence from classes for a significant part of the academic year. The reason? The teachers' decision to stop organizing non-academic activities as part of a work-to-rule strike approved by over 80% of the faculty. This measure has been implemented by the teaching collective throughout Catalonia to demand a new agreement for labor and salary improvements from the Department of Education. Consequently, around eighty young people have expressed their discontent at the school gates this week with posters, graffiti, and slogans.

The standoff between teachers and the government of Salvador Illa saw its first street protest on Monday, marking the start of a strike that It will last throughout the week in various parts of the country. The rejection of the agreement—deemed "insufficient" by the Ustec union—between the Department of Education and the CCOO and UGT unions to improve working conditions for staff and the situation in classrooms has resulted in road blockades on access routes to Barcelona early this morning and a demonstration by thousands of teachers who flooded Plaça Sant Jaume in the Catalan capital.

After another chaotic morning on the commuter rail network, with Two new failures at the Adif control center The CUP has presented this Tuesday that they have stopped all trains during rush hour. a free online video game under the name Adventurers on the train. The game offers an "ironic and critical look" at the operation of the commuter rail service in Catalonia, in which players must drive a train with the goal of reaching their destination without delays. "Train your patience," the CUP members suggest.

Iran has entered its fifteenth day of protests with the streets still ablaze and communications virtually cut off. Since Friday, the country has been under a digital blackout that blocks internet access and even phone calls and SMS messages. However, videos from cities like Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, and Qom, which managed to circumvent censorship, show crowds returning every night, burning cars, and massively deployed security forces.