Italian students launch dual protests inspired by French school walkouts and Spanish housing crisis

Across Italy, two distinct protest movements have erupted among youths and young adults. In cities such as Rome, Naples, Turin and Genoa, high-school students are occupying classrooms and using French-style slogans, with Turin’s rallying cry “Fare come in Francia” and Rome’s adoption of the French term “Les blocages.” Parallel to these school occupations, university students are assembling tent villages outside campuses, particularly in Rome, to protest steep rent increases and related cost-of-living pressures.

The Spanish housing protests, highlighted by the surge in Madrid rents and the symbolic wedding of Maricarmen Abascal, have served as a model for Italian university demonstrators, who are also active in Milan and Lecce. Student leaders, including Claudia Marostegan of the Milan university student union, stress that the grievances extend beyond rent to utilities, public transport and food prices. Planned marches involving over a hundred groups are set for Friday in multiple cities, with a major rally in Rome scheduled for Saturday against rising living costs and a new Italian electoral law.