Mass protests have exploded in France, Germany, Spain and Italy in recent times, involving different social groups, all with specific demands and backgrounds, but united by a common thread: Divert the resources now spent for rearmament and for Ukraine to measures to alleviate their hardship.

France: A protest movement launched by high school students on September 17, 2026 spread throughout the country, often marked by violence, and is now out of control. The students began protesting against the dilapidated state of their schools, the over-full classrooms, the lack of teachers and equipment, etc. Many casualties have since been reported nationwide among high school students, teachers, school directors and the Police who have been wounded, school blockades continue and thousands of minors have been arrested.

Similar to the Yellow Vest protests a few years ago, the protest rapidly expanded beyond the schools to other social groups. On October 6, major trade unions joined the student demonstrations.

Germany: On October 2, students took to the street in over 100 cities to protest against the planned military draft. Under the banner We don’t want to fight your war, they spoke out against the rearmament policy of the Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz Government. On October 3, German Unification Day, major anti-war rallies took place in Berlin, Stuttgart and other cities. According to organisers, 20,000 people joined the rally in Berlin and 15,000 in Stuttgart.

Although the figures are not terribly high, it is the first time since the huge anti-war demonstrations in the 1980s, that a significant part of the German population demonstrates against the war danger. The rallies were organised by the umbrella organisation Never Again War (Nie Wieder Krieg), which includes over 300 peace and anti-war groups, the German-Palestinian Society, the alliance against conscription, parts of the Protestant Church, as well as the BSW and Linke (political parties) and individual local trade union groups.

Italy: A farmers’ protest in the southern Italian region of Calabria has expanded to Sicily and other Italian regions, involving fishermen and truckers. The protest is totally ignored by the mainstream media and finds coverage only on social and local media. A major demonstration took place on October 10 in Cosenza, as well. Farmers, fishermen and truckers are literally strangled by the increased price of fuel, and rather than producing at a loss, farmers are threatening not to plant wheat for the next season, while fishermen and truckers are threatening to keep boats and trucks, respectively at harbour or garages. The grassroot protest calls on the government to end spending for rearmament and the war in Ukraine, and to change its priorities.

Spain: Following the defeat in Parliament of the emergency decrees to halt evictions which had been proposed by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, massive demonstrations erupted across the country in the first week of October as citizens mobilised to demand governmental action on Housing Rights. While the majority of the rallies remained peaceful, clashes with law enforcement were recorded in several cities. In the southeastern city of Valencia, Riot Police used tear gas and rubber bullets after roughly 30 demonstrators breached the landmark City of Arts and Sciences building. Pressed by the Opposition on October 5, Sánchez announced early elections for the end of November.

This article was first published in Executive Intelligence Review (EIR) Strategic Alert weekly newsletter (Volume 40, No. 41) on October 8, 2026.

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das