European Union nations have signed off on a proposed $113 billion emergency loan for Ireland. The bailout was approved a day after an estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday to oppose the plan to rescue Ireland’s banking sector. Irish trade unions have announced plans to launch a campaign of civil disobedience in the coming weeks.

Tom Coleman, Irish protester: “We don’t want to pay for private business, private industry and corrupt government. And the people are going to pay. And we’re not happy. We don’t want the IMF [International Monetary Fund] in here. The IMF created this situation, and they’re in for money. And they don’t care about the future. They don’t care about Ireland.”

Meanwhile, in Britain, tens of thousands of students took the streets last week to protest planned budget cuts.

Mark Bergfeld, student organizer: “We must say that the damage done by thousands of young kids doesn’t anywhere come close to the damage which is being done by the Con-Dem government in this country. The Con-Dem government in this country is decimating higher education, is decimating the welfare state, and is imposing an austerity agenda. They have no mandate to cut, and the broken futures, the broken future of generations to come, in no way compare to a few broken windows.”