13 arrested as Portuguese police clash with protesters

Riot police stormed protest camps in Lisbon and Porto early this morning, charging demonstrators with batons, arresting 13 people and leaving dozens injured in the latest confrontation over Portugal's housing crisis.

Clashes quickly broke out as dozens of officers moved in on an encampment in Lisbon's Rossio Square and a smaller camp in Porto's Dom Joao I Square at around 4.30am.

Protesters shouted "smells like a dictatorship", while police said some hurled bottles and paint at officers as they tried to take down the tents.

Police said in a statement that six people were arrested in Lisbon and seven in Porto for refusing orders to disperse. It said 13 police were injured in the process, with eight taken to hospital.

In Porto, police said three plain-clothes officers monitoring the protesters were assaulted after being spotted by a group.

An unspecified number of civilians were also injured during the operation, which was carried out "with rigour, balance and respect for citizens' rights", the statement read.

Activist group Acampada Lisboa said more than 30 protesters were injured, including 10 who required hospital treatment, and called a fresh rally in the capital on this afternoon.

The camps had been set up late yesterday after peaceful marches through the two cities against soaring housing costs.

Officers have repeatedly dismantled encampments that have sprung up across Lisbon and Porto in recent weeks.

Protesters want the minority centre-right government to abandon plans to ease evictions and remove rent caps on new leases, warning the measures would push up housing costs and leave tenants more vulnerable.

Portuguese protesters have taken inspiration from a similar movement in neighbouring Spain, where tents have been set up in central Madrid and other cities for weeks.

Shops looted as Gen Z-led protests in Germany escalate

Shops were looted in Frankfurt after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets ⁠across Germany's biggest cities yesterday to demand better education and lower living costs.

The protests followed a wave of demonstrations across Europe this year. In Serbia, student-led activism helped unseat the country's longtime leader at the ballot box, while protests in France have descended into rioting and looting.

The German protests organised by the campaign group Gen Z Regelt - "Gen Z takes charge" in German - took place in 34 cities including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.

The group says it opposes compulsory military service and wants greater investment in education as many young Germans struggle with rising costs.

In Frankfurt, Germany's financial hub, at least two stores were looted as protests turned violent, with several more damaged and police trying to get the situation under control, according to a witness.

Official numbers yesterday afternoon ⁠suggested turnout was below the 182,000 participants that organisers initially expected.

German authorities said demonstrations, which coincide with Halloween festivities, had been largely peaceful but warned of attempts by extremist groups to exploit the movement.

In Hamburg, some barricades were set on fire.

"We are here... to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion," Gen Z regelt spokesperson Lina Friedrich said in Berlin.

"What matters most to us is better support for the health and education ‌systems. We are against compulsory military service and we are in favour of a fairer distribution of the burden."

Luxury shops board up windows

The federal interior ministry has claimed that elements of Germany's far-left and some groups linked to foreign extremist movements have joined efforts to mobilise support.

"We all have those images from France in our minds - looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles, and attacks onpolice officers," said Roman Poseck, interior ‌minister for the state of Hesse, whose capital is Frankfurt.

"France must not be held up as a model in ⁠this regard."

Some businesses across ‌German cities boarded up windows and planned early closures ahead of the demonstrations due to concerns over possible unrest, including along Berlin's luxury Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard.

Organisers have focused on what they see as the growing pressure on younger generations in Europe's largest economy.

"The government has offered no response to our concerns other than to continue making cuts and piling further burdens upon us," said Steve, an 18-year-old due to speak at ⁠a rally in Munich, addressing Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

"We will continue to exercise our fundamental right to assemble until you stop ignoring us."

Germany has struggled to revive economic growth. The country also faces ⁠growing pressure on pensions and public services as baby boomers retire and the working-age population shrinks.

Questions have been raised about who is driving the campaign and whether it is genuinely youth-led, given the broad mix of political and civil society groups involved.

Germany's national school student umbrella organisation, BSK, has distanced itself from the initiative and plans to hold a separate day of protest on 20 November.

Sean Baker, a student at the Technical University of Berlin, said he would join the protests to call attention to the poor state of buildings on campus.

"When you go inside and enter the rooms, it looks like an abandoned building," he said. "Yet this is where we're expected to ‌study on a regular basis."