Spain & France continue to see protests over housing and education

Citizens in Spain and France have taken to the streets in continuing demonstrations over worsening housing and education issues, sparking clashes with law enforcement.

In response to the crisis, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a snap general election to seek a renewed mandate.

The unrest in Spain was triggered by the plight of an 87-year-old Madrid resident evicted from her home of decades after her monthly rent was drastically raised from 500 to 1,650 euros, far exceeding her pension.

Although Sanchez previously pushed for housing relief measures including temporarily halting evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, the parliament recently rejected the bill, prompting massive nationwide protests and leading the prime minister to move the scheduled summer parliamentary election forward to next month.

Meanwhile, students in Paris and other French cities such as Marseille and Lyon have staged intense protests against inadequate educational resources, teacher shortages and dilapidated facilities, resulting in arson attacks as well as clashes with riot police. Over 4,000 schools remaining closed, and more than 5,000 arrests mostly involving minors. France's Education Minister met with secondary school staff on Monday, acknowledging the violent demonstrations targeting educational workers and pledging to address staffing and facility maintenance issues to resume classes swiftly.