GEN Z TAKES CHARGE
For organisers, however, 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 while facing 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.
“We are distancing ourselves from ‘Gen Z regelt’, but not from the students themselves, who have legitimate concerns,” said BSK secretary-general Amy Kirchhoff on Thursday.
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.”
