from Paris to Tirana; The streets of Europe in the mirror of Iranian politics.

from Paris to Tirana; The streets of Europe in the mirror of Iranian politics.

Reporting by Omid Bryan

From Paris and Madrid to Brussels and Tirana, the streets of several European countries today are the scene of protests by citizens fed up with high prices, the housing crisis and education problems.

In France, the shortage of teachers sparked protests that soon opened the yellow vests, students and labor unions to the streets. At the same time, the housing crisis in Spain and Portugal and the demands of young people in Italy, Belgium and Albania put the governments under pressure.

Although most of these gatherings were peaceful, the images of clashes, looting and fires in several French cities quickly became a source of political exploitation on a global level.

It reached the point where French President Emmanuel Macron called the statements of leaders like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu "unacceptable" and even "stupid" during his visit to Qatar. Criticizing the "manipulation of information" and the publication of artificial intelligence videos for electoral purposes, he responded to Trump's claim that France had been "looted and burned by immigrants, jihadists and communists".