German Youth Protests Set for 30 Cities Amid Europe Wave

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Tens of thousands of young Germans are preparing to take to the streets on Saturday, joining a wave of youth-led protests that has swept across Europe as young people say political elites are ignoring their concerns.

From France to Italy and Spain, young protesters have rallied in recent weeks to make their voices heard, with some demonstrations degenerating into serious violence.

In Germany, about 150,000 people have so far registered to turn out in around 30 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Cologne, for protests led by a group calling itself “GenZ regelt!”, which translates as “Gen Z has got this!”

The movement has stressed that it rejects all violence. Even so, police are deploying thousands of officers, while some luxury jewelry shops and clothing stores are boarding up their windows to guard against potential looters.

The protesters’ grievances range from the high cost of living to poorly maintained schools and government spending cuts.

More broadly, they say politicians are deciding on policies with apparently little regard for the younger generation.

“We are young people who no longer want to sit back and watch while decisions are made about our future without us being heard,” the group said in a statement, describing itself as a non-partisan alliance. “Wherever we look, we see crises and hardly any prospects for us.”

The group says spending cuts are being made in areas ranging from education to culture and healthcare. “The cuts are being made at our expense, while big corporations continue to profit and billions flow into rearmament,” it said.

The protesters are also unhappy with Germany’s bid to boost its military through a new voluntary service model, and they fear that mandatory conscription could be reintroduced.

Authorities are concerned that the protests, which fall on Halloween, could be marred by the kind of violence seen elsewhere in Europe.

In France, nationwide demonstrations on Oct. 17 degenerated into some of the country’s worst rioting in years.

Berlin is in contact with officials in France and Italy amid fears that radicals from overseas could seek to join the German protests.

Marc Henrichmann, a senior lawmaker from the ruling center-right CDU party, warned in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper that the “networking of the far-left extremist scene is international and coordinated.”

The interior ministry, however, has stressed that a distinction must be drawn between “peaceful student protests” and a “violent extremist scene” that might hijack the demonstrations.

Authorities say they do not yet have any evidence of concrete plans for violence.

The movement has drawn its own line. “Extremist groups, anti-constitutional symbols, racism and hate speech have no place with us, no matter from which side,” “GenZ regelt!” said.

Christian Volk, an expert in protest movements, said Germany could see a major protest movement take shape.

“There is an enormous amount of pressure building up,” Volk, from Berlin’s Humboldt University, told AFP.

Young people are demanding “that their political experiences and expectations for the future are also heard,” he said.

Volk noted, however, that there are key differences with France, which has a “completely different tradition when it comes to confrontational forms of protest.”

How Saturday unfolds across Germany’s cities will show whether the country’s youth movement can make itself heard peacefully.