Protests have erupted around the world over the past few months, with hundreds of thousands of people from the Middle East to Asia, South America and the Caribbean calling for change.

Key points: Protests have broken out around the world calling for justice and social equality

Protests have broken out around the world calling for justice and social equality Chile, Lebanon, Catalonia, Iraq, and Pakistan are among many of the nations rising up

Chile, Lebanon, Catalonia, Iraq, and Pakistan are among many of the nations rising up The Extinction Rebellion climate movement has also grown to include over 60 countries

In Lebanon, protesters have recently stood together to end alleged government corruption while some one million Chileans have taken to the streets to protest class inequality.

Pakistan, Iraq, and Catalonia have also witnessed significant uprisings which have developed into generalised civil unrest.

The common thread throughout the protests has been a theme of injustice and social inequality, which in turn has triggered global calls for action.

Major protests have reportedly sparked a 'contagion effect' prompting a social change movement across the world.

Here's what you need to know about where and why many of these protests are happening.

Chile

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 35 seconds 35 s Police fire tear gas, water cannons as protests continue in Chile

Who is protesting and why?

As many as one million Chilean protesters flooded Santiago city from all backgrounds and cities.

Initially, the demonstrations were led by young people including students from across the city, but eventually people from all over the country joined in.

Protests this week turned violent as police clashed with protesters after dark.

What sparked the protests and when did they start?

Protests started in mid-October, triggered by a hike in public transport fares, but later boiled into riots, arson and looting which has killed at least 18 people and injured hundreds.

Demonstrators have demanded political and economic social reforms, addressing they describe as inequality, deficient public services and government repression.

What is the Government's response?

Chile's military has taken over security in Santiago, putting a city of six million people under a state of emergency, complete with night-time curfews that have seen 20,000 soldiers patrolling the streets.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has promised to boost the minimum wage and pensions, ditch fare hikes on public transport, overturn a recent increase in electricity prices and fix the country's ailing health care system.

What's going to happen next?

It remains unclear whether Mr Pinera's attempt to de-escalate the situation will work, with one of the main chants of the movement being "Chile desperto," translating to "Chile has awoken".

Many protesters believe Mr Pinera's promises have come too late.

Lebanon

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 41 seconds 41 s Lebanon anti-government protests attract hundreds of thousands.

Who is protesting and why?

Protesters in Lebanon have come from diverse communities, religions, sects, and political groups.

Cross-sectarian protesters include the old, the young, the religious and non-religious, all standing together against a political system seen as corrupt and beyond repair.

What sparked the protests and when did they start?

Lebanon's unprecedented wave of demonstrations had been a long time coming, with many blaming the Government's "WhatsApp tax" as the final straw.

Others say the Government's inaction over wildfires that tore through the country this month were the cause of the protests.

What is the Government's response?

Lebanon's Prime Minister, Saad al-Hariri, resigned on October 29, saying he had hit a "dead end" in trying to resolve the crisis.

Lebanon's political leaders have tried to sympathise with the protesters, but have also defended the current system, and called for the restoration of order after weeks of unrest.

The Cabinet agreed to a package of reforms including halving politicians' salaries.

Before his resignation, Mr Hariri's Government also announced an emergency reform package to try to assuage public anger, and steer the state away from a looming financial crisis.

What's going to happen next?

Under Lebanon's constitution, the Government will stay on in a caretaker capacity as talks begin on forming a new one.

It took nine months to form the Hariri coalition cabinet that took office in January.

Protesters still remain furious at the political class they have accused of pushing the economy to the point of collapse.

Catalonia

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 40 seconds 40 s Spanish unity supporters fill streets of Barcelona

Who is protesting and why?

There are two separate camps of people protesting in Catalonia — people angered over the conviction of several Catalan independence leaders, and those who are against Catalonia seceding from Spain.

The protests have seen people of all ages and communities march across Catalonia, with passions running high on both sides over the independence movement that has created Spain's worst political crisis in decades.

What sparked the protests and when did they start?

The current burst of protests were sparked over a Supreme Court ruling that gave nine leading separatist politicians and activists lengthy prison sentences, following an illegal and unsuccessful attempt to secede from Spain in 2017.

Another rally in favour of Spanish unity came after the pro-independence protests, some of which spiralled into violent clashes with police.

What is the Government's response?

The most recent rally of 350,000 separatists in Barcelona saw clashes between police and radical protesters, leaving 44 people injured, according to regional health authorities.

More than 500 people have been hurt, nearly half of them police officers, in clashes since the October 14 Supreme Court verdict.

Catalan's regional government has called for calm and condemned the use of violence by protesters, while the Government in Madrid has said it was "considering all scenarios" to act against the violence.

What's going to happen next?

The Catalan crisis is set to be a key issue in Spain's November 10 national election, where Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will try to stay in power.

The Government says it has set up a special commission, which includes Spain's national intelligence agency, in order to work out a path forward as protests continue.

Iraq

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 39 seconds 39 s At least 40 dead in Iraq's anti-government protests.

Who is protesting and why?

The demonstrations in Iraq this month have been mostly led by young people, and those who are fed up with high unemployment.

The protests have rocked Baghdad and Iraq's southern provinces, with protesters demanding reforms to fight corruption and unemployment, and calling for a total overhaul of the country's political system.

What sparked the protests and when did they start?

The protests were initially driven by alleged corruption and economic hardship.

Iraq has experienced foreign occupation, civil war and an insurgency led by Islamic terror groups since 2003.

What is the government or global response?

In the most recent clashes, 40 protesters were reportedly killed as security forces used tear gas and an Iranian-backed militia opened fire to quell demonstrations.

There have been reports that almost 250 people have been killed since the beginning of the month.

What's going to happen next?

Critics say one of the country's biggest challenges is to calm the conflict before security in the region spirals out of control.

Experts are concerned that there is no clear alternative to the current political leadership in Iraq — if they were to step down in response to the protests, the vacuum could lead to an even worse situation.

Pakistan

Tensions between Pakistan and India have increased since India downgraded the autonomy of its side of Kashmir and imposed tighter controls on the area. ( AP: Anjum Naveed )

Who is protesting and why?

Thousands of supporters of an ultra-religious party have gathered in Karachi to start a large anti-Government procession to the capital Islamabad, focused on issues in Kashmir as well as anger towards Pakistan's Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

The protesters say his Government is illegitimate, and say he only came to power through the support of the army.

What sparked the protests and when did they start?

The disquiet has been simmering in the country for some time, but again erupted this month marking the anniversary of the conflict over Kashmir.

The protest began to show solidarity with Kashmiri residents allegedly facing hardship at the hands of Indian troops.

What is the Government or global response?

The demonstration has been backed by opposition parties like the Pakistan Muslim League of former premier Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Peoples' Party of former president Asif Zaradri.

Nationalist and secular parties have also backed the protest.

What's going to happen next?

The caravan of protesters, which reportedly consists of hundreds of buses and vans, is en route to Islamabad.

The Government plans to place shipping containers along roads and deploy riot police in the capital, ahead of the protesters' arrival.

Separate, anti-India protests are planned across Pakistan.

Extinction Rebellion

Protesters at a climate change rally on Princes Bridge in central Melbourne. ( AAP: James Ross )

Who are they and why are they protesting?

Extinction Rebellion is a worldwide movement that describes its protests as non-violent civil disobedience.

The protest movement, also known as XR, has members in more than 60 cities around the world, and says the protests are a response to inadequate action on climate change and other environmental issues.

What sparked the protests and when did they start?

Protests first began in April 2018 in London after a small group of British activists met in Bristol to discuss how to achieve what one early member called "radical social change".

It started as part of the Rising Up network, which describes itself as being born out of the Occupy movement, and includes among its aims, "a rapid change in wealth distribution and power structures".

What now and what next?:

The movement's aim is to mobilise 3.5 per cent of the population, which it says is all that's needed to achieve change.

XR have also been heavily active in Australia, launching a number of protests that have disrupted commuters across several cities.

Hong Kong

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 52 seconds 52 s Violent protests end brief period of calm in Hong Kong.

Who is protesting and why?

Pro-democracy protesters initially consisted of young people, many from universities and high schools.

However protesters from various professional sectors and age groups have since joined the massive rallies.

What sparked the protests and when?

The protests originally started in June over a proposed extradition bill first introduced in April, which would have allowed for criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China, and tried in courts controlled by the Communist Party.

In one of the most significant breakdowns in relations between protesters and authorities, the Government refused to withdraw the bill, sparking violent clashes between police and activists.

The bill was eventually withdrawn in September, but only after months of violent protests which have seen the demands of demonstrators change over time.

What do they want and what comes next?

Pro-democracy protesters originally called for the bill to be withdrawn completely.

But since, protesters have made other demands like universal suffrage and inquiries into Hong Kong's police force after the violence erupted.

Many protesters broadly oppose growing Chinese influence over Hong Kong.

While many of the protests listed above have seen tens of thousands of people come out to demonstrate, protest movements have also emerged in other countries, including Indonesia, France, Netherlands, Iran, Egypt, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Haiti.