Thousands of young people protest across Germany over future

Thousands of young people took to the streets across Germany on Saturday to call for stronger climate action, more investment in education and greater social justice, and to protest rising living costs and conscription. Most demonstrations were peaceful, BR reported, though there were incidents involving pyrotechnics in Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

Under the slogan “Gen Z takes charge,” protests were held in Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Regensburg and Rosenheim in Bavaria, as well as in cities including Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Dresden and Leipzig. In Munich, police estimated that about 2,500 people gathered outside Ludwig Maximilian University. The march set off towards the Siegestor, a landmark, then continued to Münchner Freiheit before returning to Geschwister-Scholl-Platz.

About 700 people gathered in Nuremberg. Pro-Palestinian supporters and supporters of Israel confronted one another, and several small firecrackers were set off. Firecrackers were also thrown in the direction of journalists. Police separated the groups; no injuries had been reported in initial findings. Later, fireworks were set off in the Steinbühl Tunnel. Authorities had not established a connection between the incidents.

In Stuttgart, police halted the demonstration several times after participants covered their faces and smoke pots and firecrackers were set off. Officers urged demonstrators to be loud but peaceful.

Bavarian police maintained a strong presence in all five cities. Authorities said they had received no specific calls for violence or indications of planned unrest in advance. Germany’s domestic intelligence agency had warned of possible attempts by left-wing extremist groups to infiltrate the youth protests. In Munich, some shops on the luxury shopping street Maximilianstraße boarded up their windows as a precaution against possible looting.

Several hundred people also gathered in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Mainz, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Dresden and Leipzig. More than 182,100 people had said they planned to attend via the “Gen Z takes charge” website by the 2 p.m. start, though the expected attendance figures officially registered in individual cities were considerably lower.