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- Demonstration planned on Saturday across 31 cities opposing cuts to education and social services, as well as mandatory military service - ‘If politicians aren’t going to do anything, then we young people have to take action,’ says organizer Akram Selo - Ruling CDU/CSU bloc calls protesters far-left extremists and criminals, likening them to recent protests in France
By Oliver Towfigh Nia
BERLIN (AA) - A growing culture of protest and resistance has been taking shape among young people in Germany.
Following a series of blockades at high schools, members of Generation Z – teens and young adults between the ages of 14 and 30 – will take to the streets on Saturday.
The newly founded initiative, Gen Z regelt (Gen Z takes charge), has called for a protest at the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
More than 154,000 people have registered for the protest, according to the group's website.
Similar demonstrations are planned in 30 other cities across Germany, with protesters opposing cuts to education and social services, as well as mandatory military service.
“We are young people who are no longer willing to stand by and watch as decisions about our future are made without our voices being heard,” the group said on its website.
“We call for policies that invest in education, social security, health care, climate protection, and an affordable standard of living, rather than cutting back on the younger generation,” it added.
It also calls for consistent climate action and opposes the expansion of government surveillance.
- Young people worry about future, organizer says
One of the organizers of Saturday’s protests, Akram Selo, said it is the fear for their future which brings young people to the streets of Germany.
“There are many young people who are worried about their future … If politicians aren’t going to do anything, then we young people have to take action,” Selo, 18, told daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
Asked whether he was concerned that the demonstrations in Germany could turn violent like in France, the activist replied: “This movement didn’t just start last week. We’ve been planning this for more than three weeks. When we started, the demonstrations in France were still peaceful.”
- We have to stand up for our rights, students say
The view was echoed by Ruediger F, a political science student at Berlin’s Free University.
“The fact that tens of thousands of students are planning to take to the streets this weekend to press for their demands shows that our concerns have not been taken seriously,” Ruediger F. told Anadolu.
“We are investing hundreds of billions of euros in our military instead of our educational system, combating poverty and climate change. We have to set our priorities straight and that is why I strongly support the protests,” he added.
Marie S., a political science student at the same university, said: “For years, there have been budget cuts in the education and social sectors.
“While there is supposedly no money for schools and universities, massive investments are being made in militarization; and if conscription were to be introduced, it would once again be at the expense of the younger generation, which is already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis,” she told Anadolu.
“The upcoming protests are part of a series of protest movements around the world, most recently in France,” she noted.
It is a “positive sign that young people are joining forces internationally and standing up for these causes,” she said.
- Left and Green youth organizations support protests
The initiative, however, has received support from the youth organizations of the opposition Greens and The Left Party.
The Federal Association of the Left Youth criticized the prejudgment of the protests, which are planned to be peaceful.
“As Left Youth, we welcome the fact that young people are taking to the streets to protest the Merz-Klingbeil government’s austerity policies.”
The Green Youth also backed the protests. Their spokesperson, Luis Bobga, called it “right and important that our generation is now also applying pressure on the streets.”
Both parties are calling for participation in the International Youth Strike Day, which is planned to take place simultaneously in various European countries on Nov. 20.
- Police vows ‘no mercy’ if protests turn violent
Alexander Throm, the domestic policy spokesperson for the co-ruling Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) parliamentary group, alleged in an interview with business daily Handelsblatt that the youth protest movement have been taken over by far-left extremists and criminal elements from the migrant community.
Baden-Wuerttemberg’s Interior Minister Manuel Hagel, also a member of the CDU, vowed to strike back “with the full force of the rule of law.”
The CDU’s city council caucus in the southern city of Stuttgart is considering a ban on public gatherings.
The CDU youth organization in Berlin’s district of Mitte has floated the idea of calling in the German army. It said that Paris has shown what “those who hate the free, democratic order” are capable of.
On Instagram, they posted an AI-generated photo of children with school backpacks at the Brandenburg Gate, with soldiers in bulletproof vests and combat helmets standing in front of them.
The police have also joined in the campaign against the youth protests.
Jochen Kopelke, a senior member of the Police Union, told the Bild newspaper that “riot-prone migrants” were mingling among peaceful students and were “eager to use violence.”
These individuals should “expect no mercy” from the police.
Berlin's Police Union leader Stephan Weh said: “We have to be extremely careful that radical forces don’t co-opt democratic protest—as they did in France.
He also pointed out that the timing – falling on Halloween night, when “people tend to use fireworks on our streets anyway” – was particularly problematic, daily taz reported.
