(Adnkronos) – Tens of thousands of young Germans are preparing to demonstrate tomorrow in about thirty cities across Germany, including Berlin, Frankfurt, and Cologne, to denounce the high cost of living, school conditions, and public spending cuts affecting sectors ranging from education to culture and healthcare. More generally, young people criticize politicians for making decisions about their future without listening to their voices. The initiative is promoted by a group known by the slogan ‘GenZ regelt!’ (“Generation Z takes matters into its own hands!”).
“We are young people who no longer want to stand by while decisions about our future are made without our voices being heard,” reads a statement from the group, which defines itself as a non-partisan alliance. “Everywhere we look, we see crises and almost no prospects for us.” Public spending cuts – they denounce – are happening at our expense, while large corporations continue to make profits, and billions of euros are allocated to rearmament.” The protest is also directed at the plan for the consolidation and expansion of the armed forces through a new voluntary service model, with fears that compulsory conscription might be reintroduced.
Although the movement has reiterated its rejection of all forms of violence, the police do not intend to take risks and have mobilized thousands of officers; meanwhile, some luxury jewelry stores and clothing shops are protecting their windows with wooden panels to prevent potential looting. Authorities fear that the protests could escalate into episodes of violence similar to those already observed elsewhere in Europe.
Berlin – reports AFP – is in contact with French and Italian authorities, fearing that radical elements from abroad might join the protests in Germany. Marc Henrichmann, a parliamentarian from the ruling center-right party, the CDU, raised the alarm in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper about the “network of far-left extremism,” calling it “international and coordinated.” The Interior Ministry, however, emphasized the need to distinguish between “peaceful student protests” and a “violent extremist scene” that could exploit the demonstrations. According to authorities, there is currently no evidence to confirm concrete plans for acts of violence.
The ‘GenZ regelt!’ movement has meanwhile reiterated its dissociation from all forms of violence: “extremist groups, unconstitutional symbols, racism, and hate speech have no place among us, no matter where they come from.” Christian Volk, an expert on protest movements, observed that a significant protest movement could develop in Germany. “Enormous pressure is building up,” Volk, a lecturer at Humboldt University in Berlin, told AFP. Young people demand “that their political experiences and their expectations for the future be heard.”
