German conservatives’ youth wing calls for army deployment at student protests

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN (AA) - A youth group affiliated with Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has called for the preventive deployment of the German army at planned student protests in Berlin on Saturday, a proposal widely criticized as unconstitutional.

In a social media post on Instagram, the Berlin-Mitte branch of the Junge Union wrote that the “so-called student protests” scheduled for Oct. 31 “must be prevented.” It added: “Paris has shown what haters of the free, democratic world can wreak. We demand that the Bundeswehr be involved preventively to defend our free order. To prevent terror like in Paris.”

The post featured an AI-generated image of helmeted soldiers in combat gear near the Brandenburg Gate, the iconic landmark in central Berlin, where the student protests are planned for Saturday.

The CDU youth group’s proposal sparked a debate on social media, with critics saying the demand is unconstitutional, as Germany’s Basic Law generally limits the armed forces to defense duties. Domestic deployments are permitted only for military support of police against armed insurgents when state and federal police are overwhelmed and the free democratic order is threatened.

The planned student protests are being organized by groups including “Gen Z steht auf” (Gen Z stands up) and “Gen Z regelt” (Gen Z takes charge). They focus on better school funding, affordable living, climate protection, opposition to possible conscription and concerns about surveillance.

“We clearly distance ourselves from any kind of violence,” Akram Selo, co-initiator of “Gen Z steht auf,” told local media.

Ayhan Şimşek