More than 160,000 people across Germany are expected to join demonstrations on Saturday, organisers say, in a youth-led movement calling for better education and lower living costs. The planned protests are part of a wider wave of Gen Z-led action across Europe this year.
The demonstrations are being organised by the campaign group “Gen Z regelt” — meaning “Gen Z takes charge” — with events planned in 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. The group says it opposes compulsory military service and wants greater investment in education, at a time when many young Germans are struggling with rising costs.
German authorities say they expect Saturday’s demonstrations, which coincide with Halloween festivities, to be largely peaceful, but have warned that extremist groups may try to exploit the movement. The federal interior ministry says parts of Germany’s far-left extremist scene and some groups linked to foreign extremist movements have joined efforts to mobilise support.
Hesse interior minister Roman Poseck said: “We all have those images from France in our minds – looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles, and attacks on police officers,” adding: “France must not be held up as a model in this regard.”
In Berlin, some businesses along the luxury Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard boarded up windows and planned early closures ahead of the expected protests.
The German protests follow a wave of youth-led demonstrations elsewhere in Europe. In Serbia, student-led activism helped unseat the country’s long-time leader at the ballot box, while protests in France have descended into rioting and looting.
Germany’s national school student umbrella organisation, BSK, has distanced itself from the initiative and plans a separate day of protest on 20 November. BSK secretary-general Amy Kirchhoff said on Thursday: “We are distancing ourselves from ‘Gen Z regelt,’ but not from the students themselves, who have legitimate concerns.”
Sean Baker, a student at the Technical University of Berlin, said he would join Saturday’s protests to call attention to the poor state of buildings on campus, saying rooms look like an abandoned building.
The protests come as Germany struggles to revive economic growth while facing growing pressure on pensions and public services as baby boomers retire and the working-age population shrinks.
The featured image is illustrative only and is not a photograph of Saturday’s planned protests in Germany.
Source: Dawn (with Reuters reporting)
