[Anchor]

Protests that began in France are spreading across various parts of Europe. In Greece, students and teachers have taken to the streets, while Germany is on high alert as large-scale protests are scheduled for Halloween on October 31.

Reporter Kim Young-a has the details.

[Reporter]

[When students unite, we win!]

Protests that started in France have spread through Italy and Albania, reaching all the way to Greece at the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula.

Demonstrators filled downtown areas in major cities, including the capital of Athens and Thessaloniki.

The protesters demanded the expansion of affordable student housing and increased government investment in the education sector.

[Fani Chrisania / University Student: Young people in many European countries, including France, Italy, and Albania, are facing the exact same problems. The enemy is the same, and the reasons driving us into the streets are the same.]

Particularly in Athens, even teachers declared a strike.

[Ioannis Rompas / Striking Teacher: Through this strike, we want to send a message to the younger generation, adults, and students alike that "if you don't fight, you get nothing."]

In the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, university students also rushed into the streets.

They stepped up to block the government's decision to raise university tuition fees starting next year, which had been frozen since 2020.

In Albania, where violence had even erupted, the prime minister personally brought a chair out in front of the parliament building and attempted to talk with the protesters, but the angry demonstrators rejected the dialogue offer by throwing and smashing the chair.

In Milan, Italy, where stores were looted, the Italian government decided to deploy 500 military troops for protests scheduled every weekend.

Meanwhile, in Germany, a group named "Generation Z Rises" has announced nationwide protests for October 31, Halloween.

Organizers are using social media to urge participation, calling for simultaneous resistance in some 20 cities, including Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich.

[France can do it, why can't we? Please, I am here. I am right here. Let us do it here too. I want to see it as well.]

With protests announced for Halloween, a day that has seen recurring violence every year, authorities are tightening their grip in high alert.

(Video Editing: Kim Byung-jik)