Youth protests: “They are really serious now”

Interview youth protests “You are really serious now” As of: October 30, 2026 • 5:03 p.m

Rising prices, dilapidated schools, lack of dialogue: In an interview, protest researcher Florian Staudt explains why young people in Europe are protesting - and what he believes politicians should do now.

tagesschau24: First France and Italy, now Germany. Are we currently experiencing a European protest movement among the young generation?

Florian Staudt: Yes, indeed. In many, many countries, young people are standing up and standing up for their concerns and frustrations and ideas and demands. And we actually see some parallels in the demands, for example against increased living costs and ailing education systems. But there are actually specific demands in the individual European countries.

Florian Staudt, European scientist and protest researcher, on the announced GenZ protests tagesschau24, October 30, 2026 • 3:00 p.m. tagesschau24: Many of these topics have been bothering the young generation for years. Why is their discontent taking to the streets now?

Staudt: I think that they don't have the impression that their previous efforts through structured participation formats but also through demonstrations are being heard, and that a larger demonstration is now needed in order to take their demands to the streets, so to speak.

In some places you can consciously read that young people are angry. So they are now really serious and they are now demanding serious offers of talks from political leaders.

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tagesschau24: And how big is the chance that politicians will accept exactly these offers?

Staudt: I think that is a very crucial question. I found it a little telling that the first reactions we heard from political leaders were warnings about violence, restrictions, so to speak, and blanket condemnations that all protesters who take to the streets, so to speak, are violent. I think that's a fatal signal.

I think we should see it as an opportunity for political leaders that there are now serious offers for talks. Here, too, I think it's worth looking across the Rhine to France, which, for example, has set up a platform, a survey so to speak, so that schoolchildren and students can enter their legitimate demands there. And it is at least a small positive signal that the Federal Minister of Education today announced the first signs of a willingness to engage in dialogue.

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tagesschau24: What would you say? Are young people being listened to now or is this just the beginning in Germany?

Staudt: I actually think it's the beginning and of course we have to wait and see how big the protests become. It is difficult to judge how great the level of mobilization will be in the end, but I really hope that the demonstrations remain peaceful and that the demands are the focus and that we then quickly get into these discussions so that the legitimate demands are heard.

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tagesschau24: You have also dealt intensively with the protests in France. We experienced some very violent riots there. What distinguishes the French protest culture from the German one?

Staudt: There are big differences in culture. The French protest culture is simply more confrontational, also against the background of the political system. It is a centralism, we are organized federally in Germany, including when it comes to education, for example. So that means that the anger in France is massively unleashed on the central state and over the years a massive amount of anger has arisen there with a view to the big issues: social inequality, social justice.

We're not that far in Germany yet. For example, youth unemployment in France is twice as high as in Germany. I simply don't see the conditions in Germany for the riots to be as big as in France. But nonetheless, there are similarities and here in Germany too there are legitimate demands that young people are pushing forward.

The interview was conducted by Damla Hekimoğlu for tagesschau24. It has been shortened and edited for the written version.

This topic in the program: tagesschau24 | News | Oct 30, 2026 | 3:00 p.m