TEHRAN - People take to the streets in Spain and Italy as protests show no sign of abating in Western Europe.

Western Europe is seeing a sharp rise in protests and strikes as workers complain that the cost of living is strongly outweighing their income. The energy crisis that resulted from the Ukraine war is to the blame.

In Italy people have marched through the streets of the capital Rome to demand better working conditions as well as an increase of 300 euros in their monthly salary. They are also demanding the government raise the minimum wage to ten euros per hour.

Footage shows people marching with flags, banners, and signs that read “Work to live, not live to work”.

The protesters have blamed the government’s policies towards the Ukraine war, calling for a peaceful solution to the crisis. The conflict erupted in February last year after Russia, citing the U.S.-led NATO military alliance’s expansion on its borders, launched what it called a “special military operation”.

Western sanctions on Russia’s gas exports have seen a record rise in inflation across Western Europe with the sharp rise in Energy costs, spearheading the record inflation levels.

As Western governments send more weapons into the warzone instead of seeking a peaceful resolution, the protesters are turning on their governments for prolonging the conflict arguing it is the average households back home that are feeling the dire financial consequences of the inflation levels.

Speaking to the AFP news agency one of the many protesters in Rome, Valerio Conti, called on the government to seek a peaceful solution to the war and an end to the arms shipments to Ukraine, saying "we believe that the warmongering policies of our government are the main cause. This is why we are in the streets: to ask that they put down their weapons, that is, that there be a peaceful solution to the conflict, and to increase wages to increase the purchasing power of wages, which have truly become unsustainable."  

Others struck a similar tone, such as Giampiero Simonetto who said "while there are huge investments to sustain the war in Ukraine, on the NATO side, the territories suffer neglect due to a lack of restructuring and maintenance."

Fabiola Bravi, another protester, explained that the rising inflation which Italy is experiencing is limiting the ability of families with low wages to pay their bills, and stated that the rally was organized to express the public’s dissatisfaction with their government.

"This strike above all is against the Meloni government, which is the enemy of the people and the working class." she said. 

Reportedly similar demonstrations also took place in other Italian cities, which led to the disruption of local transportation as well as schools.

Bravi also says funds are ending up in the pockets of private companies while “nothing is going to the town. There is a hungry population that is the victim of inflation that has reached 12%. The prices of basic necessities have exceeded double the usual level. The electricity and water bills are not paid because the families cannot sustain the cost of living with the low wages that we have in Italy."

There is a similar pattern emerging among protesters across Western Europe who are hitting the streets or going on strike with a common argument that amid the rising inflation, their salaries have stayed the same and are not rising in line with the inflation level.

Meanwhile in Spain, teachers and healthcare professionals joined forces in walking out of their jobs and holding two rallies in front of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education in the capital Madrid, echoing similar demands by protesters across Western Europe for better working conditions.

The demonstrators, holding flags and signs while chanting slogans such as "No we don't want to pay your debt with health and education."

Among the many signs held at the protest read “Teachers fighting we are teaching”, “Health and education, no to privatization” as well as “More investment in public education”.

Isabel Galvin, the spokesperson of Confederation of Workers' Commissions, says teachers also have a fundamental demand of a 35-hour working week, which was promised by the government but has yet to be implemented.

This is in line with promises by many Western governments who cannot afford to carry them out as conflict in Ukraine is becoming more costly for the West.

The past months have witnessed waves of protests and strikes in countries across Europe, in particular the UK, which has seen a record number of public workers walking out along with protests across the country and across almost all sectors as the cost-of-living crisis bites. The strikes have also paralyzed different public sectors from hospitals to transportation.

The UK Chancellor was denounced on Friday after telling British media that he would be "comfortable" with a recession if it brings inflation down.

Asked by Sky News whether he was "comfortable with the Bank of England doing whatever it takes to bring down inflation, even if that potentially would precipitate a recession", Jeremy Hunt replied: "Yes, because in the end, inflation is a source of instability."

The Bank of England is expected to hike its interest rates to more than 5.5% making it even more difficult for households and others who have taken out loans, to repay their monthly installments to banks. This is on top of the unprecedented rise in energy costs across the UK, in which households are paying a record amount in their monthly bills.

The remarks led to anger from opposition parties and organizations who argue the government has no policies to ease the financial hardship among families.

In France, changes to the pension system by the government, which President of Emmanuel Macron enforced by bypassing a parliamentary vote on the plan, has seen a series of angry nationwide protests and strikes against the measures.

Macron says the deeply unpopular measures are necessary to balance the pension system.

Unions say they will not end their strikes and protests until the French president repeals the law.

Critics say these are all a direct result of the Ukraine war which has economically backfired on the West with households suffering the consequences.

While there is money to send weapons to Ukraine and prolong the war, which experts believe was triggered by NATO, it is Western households that are footing the bill for the conflict.

Nowhere has this been evidenced more than the rising number of protests and strikes in countries that are directly involved in the Ukraine war.