Europe, Protest | featured news

Thousands of workers protested in Brussels on Thursday to demand that EU leaders gathering for a summit bring an end to austerity measures and instead focus on boosting growth and reducing unemployment.

A protest party draws support from voters who are fed up with politics, but its success could make governing Italy even harder than it already is.

Tens of thousands of anti-austerity demonstrators took to the streets of Athens on Wednesday as unions staged a general strike to protest government spending cuts and tax hikes, which some predict will push unemployment to an alarming 30 percent. Police said up to 40,000 people were participating in two separate marches in central Athens that were so far peaceful.

Protesters squatting in treetop tents and makeshift shelters are battling French riot police trying to expel them from the site of a planned airport in western France.

Pockets of violence broke out as public demonstrations and strikes over rising unemployment and austerity measures took place in many parts of Europe Wednesday. Spanish and Portuguese workers staged a coordinated general strike across the Iberian Peninsula, shutting transport, grounding flights and closing schools to protest against spending cuts and tax hikes.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel praises Portugal's resolve in tackling its debt crisis, but faces angry anti-austerity protesters in Lisbon.

Debt-ridden Greece enters yet another week of anti-austerity protests. The country risks coming to a standstill as the parliament votes on a fresh austerity package of cost cuts and tax hikes for a new cash injection from its international creditors. A 24-hour strike starting Monday is expected to unite hospital doctors, journalists, Metro, taxi and train drivers and other transport workers, reports RT's Peter Oliver from Athens.

Protesters are expected to march through London on Saturday to voice their opposition to austerity measures imposed by the UK government, union leaders said.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards and Portuguese rallied in the streets of their countries' capitals Saturday to protest enduring deep economic pain from austerity cuts.

Tens of thousands of Italian workers rallied in Rome on Saturday to protest pension cuts, tax hikes and labor reforms imposed by the government of Mario Monti and to demand more stable work, particularly for the young. The demonstration organized by Italy's main labor unions came a day after Monti's latest effort to stave off contagion from Europe's debt crisis. His Cabinet on Friday approved measures worth (EURO)80 billion ($100 billion) to spur economic growth, streamline the notoriously bloated public sector and lower the national debt.