VIENNA (Dispatches) – The energy crisis in Europe is snowballing as nations across the continent continue to grapple with rising costs and shortages ahead of the cold season.
The soaring energy prices in European countries have sparked new rounds of protests by the Yellow Vests in France, people in the Austrian capital Vienna, and angry protesters in Italy’s Naples.
Anti-government protesters held rallies in Vienna, chanting slogans against the European Union, NATO, the globalists, and Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.
The protesters, who carried Austrian flags, voiced their opposition to Brussels’ anti-Moscow sanctions.
In Italy, reports said Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio came under attack and was called a “traitor” by protesters as he arrived in Naples, Campania to present his party’s plan ahead of this month’s general elections.
Di Maio, who quit the 5 Star Movement to create his Civic Commitment party following the fall of Mario Draghi’s Government in July, was met with an angry crowd demanding the minister “go away.”
His security team stepped in to keep the protesters away from the minister but the angry protesters still shouted at Di Maio as he walked by the demonstrators.
French officials in the city of Lille have cut the lighting in public buildings in a bid to decrease power consumption as the nation heads to a difficult cold season amid the continent’s energy crunch.
Media reports said the power austerity measures, which began in the northern French city on Monday, had reduced energy consumption by seven percent.
“We wished to quickly announce energy sobriety measures, and among the easiest to put in place was (to stop) lighting public buildings, because it was painless for Lille residents, although it was symbolic for us,” deputy to the Lille mayor in charge of ecological transition Audrey Linkenheld said.
“We have around ten municipal buildings that are lit up ... and we know that they consume energy. And even though the consumption was not significant, it was important for us to give a signal.”
“The fact that we have reduced lighting allows us to save 170,000 kilowatt hours, or around 30,000 Euros,” Linkenheld noted.
Other austerity measures by city officials included lowering temperatures in most public buildings and pools, closing the city’s tropical garden and closing two fountains.
Russia has extended the shutdown of gas flows to Germany indefinitely, blaming technical problems and U.S.-led sanctions.
The Russian gas giant Gazprom stopped natural gas flows to Europe via Nord Stream 1 pipeline earlier this month, saying the stoppage would last three days.