Youth protests planned in more than 30 cities

Youth protests “We are fed up” As of: October 31, 2026 • 5:52 a.m

Growing dissatisfaction and fears for the future: GenZ is protesting nationwide for better education, climate protection and more political participation. Demonstrations have been announced in more than 30 cities.

They finally want to be heard because they have felt overlooked by politicians for years. For many of them, it is the first time they have ever taken to the streets. Even in Wuppertal, young people are still working on posters with their central demands: better schools, no conscription and more consistent climate protection.

It is also new territory for the initiative itself - the first direct contact with the press. The representatives of “GenZ regulates” from Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin came together to give their anger and disappointment a voice.

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Your motivation is clear. Steve, one of the initiative's representatives, sums it up: "We are fed up and we have collectively decided to demonstrate on October 31st. We will exercise our basic right to assemble until they stop ignoring us. We see the youth and we are the future."

The group is responsible for the protests in the cities they directly represent. Associated demonstrations are taking place in around 30 other cities, but they don't want to speak on behalf of them.

Jan Koch, WDR, on the expected GenZ demonstrations tagesschau24, October 30, 2026 • 2:00 p.m. Nevertheless, a nationwide movement is emerging: There are over 160,000 registrations on the initiative's homepage. One of them is 17-year-old Marie Hacker. In Cologne she was already active for Fridays for Future.

This time the student, who is also involved in the state student council, is primarily concerned with the catastrophic state of the education system. "How we sit in overcrowded classrooms, there is a shortage of teachers, the buildings are not being renovated, we sit in containers - that's when you realize that we weren't being listened to," she describes the everyday reality in many schools. “It has been clear to us for a long time that the structures are mentally destroying young people and that politicians are not responding to it.”

For many young people, the feeling of failure permeates their entire day at school. "We are not being heard about our concerns. We notice this when we sit at school and when we are not included. That makes us angry," says Marie Hacker.

Looking abroad sharpens the spirit of protest: "An issue that has also politicized many in France is the issue of education." There are even fears about the future regarding entry into working life: "It's not clear to me how finding a job is going to work."

According to an IW study from last year, a good 9.2 percent of total spending in Germany goes to the education sector. The Nordic countries spend 12.4 percent. The EU average is 9.6 percent.

But the worries don't stop after school. 25-year-old Maximilian Kisters is studying philosophy in Düsseldorf and is involved with the left. He also wants to be part of the GenZ protests tomorrow, because the dissatisfaction runs deep. For him it is also about the issue of living expenses and housing costs.

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In Düsseldorf, a room in a shared apartment now costs an average of 563 euros per month. Kisters was lucky in his search and quickly found something reasonably affordable, but the basic problem remains: increased costs of living and the noticeable job cuts in the economy are putting a heavy burden on many young adults. Educational researchers see this as an additional pressure and frustration that did not exist to this extent in previous generations.

The education and youth researcher Nina Kolleck believes the demonstrators' demands are legitimate: "Frustration has been building up. Because the education system has not only been in the state it is in recently, but for decades - and it has been deteriorating for a long time."

The pressure on the system is enormous and can be felt directly by the learners: "Right now we know that the PISA results have caused a big shock. The teachers are overloaded and children and young people get the impression: Where there is savings, it is on them."

The results of this year's Pisa study show: The performance of 15-year-olds in Germany has fallen again in the areas of mathematics and reading. Around one in three people there now misses the minimum level. Last year, students in this country once again had the lowest scores in all three areas of competence that were previously measured in the PISA studies.

GenZ protests for education, climate protection and against conscription: Concern about escalation Jan Koch, WDR, tagesschau, Das Erste, October 30, 2026 • 4:00 p.m. Kolleck sees the name of the initiative as a clear signal to politicians. "'GenZ regulates' gets to the point. The government doesn't care enough about the needs of young people. But we are dependent on young people in times of demographic change."

The researcher also attributes the fact that the concerns of young people are often overlooked in political decisions to voting rights and demographics: "The fact that the generation is given so little consideration has a lot to do with the fact that it makes so little difference at the ballot box. Parties in the democratic center focus on the older people because they make the difference."

But this calculation could backfire: "It also shows that the parties that put so little focus on the younger people are now also noticing this. The frustration of the young is increasing and so is the worry that they will have to leave the country because there is no good future here."

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Despite the call for peaceful protests, there is uncertainty in some places in the run-up to the event. For days, some have been concerned that the demonstrations could escalate - similar to past riots in France. Individual social media views also contributed to this. In some cities, such as Düsseldorf, shop owners and business owners are preparing for the day as a precaution. They barricade themselves.

The police and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution are monitoring the situation closely, but are currently not expecting any escalation. The representatives of “GenZ regulates” also clearly distance themselves from any violence. Their goal is a peaceful protest - in the hope that their demands will finally reach politicians.

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This topic in the program: The First | daily news | Oct 30, 2026 | 4 p.m