People carry placards featuring images of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a nationwide protest by campaign group Gen Z regelt (Gen Z takes charge) against underfunding of schools, cuts to education, social services, culture and healthcare, rising living costs, and military conscription, in Berlin, Germany, October 31, 2026. REUTERS
Tens of thousands of people across Germany joined demonstrations on Saturday, as a youth-led movement inspired by protests elsewhere in Europe took to the streets to demand better education and lower living costs.
The protests follow a wave of Gen Z-led demonstrations across Europe this year. 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.
The German protests organised by the campaign group “Gen Z regelt” — “Gen Z takes charge” in German — are planned in 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. The group says it opposes compulsory military service and wants greater investment in education as many young Germans struggle with rising costs.
Official numbers on Saturday afternoon suggested participant turnout was below the 182,000 organisers initially expected. Police in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin reported as many as 18,000 protesters, half the roughly 36,000 on the organisers’ website.
German authorities said Saturday’s demonstrations, which coincide with Halloween festivities, had been largely peaceful so far, but warned of attempts by extremist groups to exploit the movement.
In Hamburg, some barricades were set on fire.
“We are here today to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion,” Gen Z regelt spokesperson Lina Friedrich said in Berlin on Saturday.
“What matters most to us is better support for the health and education systems. We are against compulsory military service and we are in favour of a fairer distribution of the burden.”
Parts of Germany’s far-left extremist scene and some groups linked to foreign extremist movements have joined efforts to mobilise support, according to the federal interior ministry.
Luxury shops board up windows
“We all have those images from France in our minds — looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles, and attacks on police officers,” said Roman Poseck, interior minister for the state of Hesse, whose capital is Germany’s financial hub, Frankfurt.
Read More: France braces for fresh unrest, government vows tough response
“France must not be held up as a model in this regard.”
Some businesses across German cities boarded up windows and planned early closures ahead of the demonstrations due to concerns over possible unrest, including along Berlin’s luxury Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard.
For organisers, the focus is on what they see as the growing pressure on younger generations in Europe’s largest economy.
“The government has offered no response to our concerns other than to continue making cuts and piling further burdens upon us,” said Steve, an 18-year-old due to speak at a rally in Munich, addressing Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“We will continue to exercise our fundamental right to assemble until you stop ignoring us.”
The protests come as Germany struggles to revive economic growth and faces growing pressure on pensions and public services as baby boomers retire and the working-age population shrinks.
But questions have been raised about who is driving the campaign and whether it is genuinely youth-led, given the broad mix of political and civil society groups involved.
Germany’s national school student umbrella organisation, BSK, has distanced itself from the initiative and plans to hold a separate day of protest on November 20.
Sean Baker, a student at the Technical University of Berlin, said he would join the protests on Saturday to call attention to the poor state of buildings on campus.
“When you go inside and enter the rooms, it looks like an abandoned building,” he told Reuters. “Yet this is where we’re expected to study on a regular basis.”
