OMM Newsroom
Protests over the cost of living that began in France are set to spread to Germany on Saturday, with tens of thousands expected to demonstrate across the country, according to CNN.
The German youth-led movement “Gen Z has got this!” — known as “Gen Z regelt” — is protesting high living costs, underfunded schools and universities, environmental concerns and the possible reintroduction of mandatory military service. Demonstrations are planned in major cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich.
Organizers scheduled the day of action to coincide with Halloween in an effort to increase turnout and visibility. “We are young people who no longer want to watch decisions being made about our future without us,” the movement says on its website. It says the protests are intended to be peaceful and has urged participants to keep their faces visible, including those wearing Halloween costumes.
Additional police officers have been deployed across Germany ahead of the demonstrations. Luxury shops along Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm shopping street have boarded up their windows as a precaution.
In France, the Yellow Vests movement has called for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, described as the third act of protests following actions on October 17 and 24. Students and some unions are also expected to take part. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a “very high risk of public disorder” and said demonstrations would only be authorized outside town centres. A further 70,000 law enforcement officers are being deployed nationwide.
Nuñez also warned of separate calls for gatherings across France from 8 p.m. local time, which he attributed to “radical far-left groups and radicalized Yellow Vests”. He said some messages invoked Halloween while calling for “revolution” and “insurrection”, describing them as incitements to serious public disorder and warning that the gatherings would be banned.
The word “purge” has circulated on social media in recent days, referring to a dystopian film franchise in which all crime is legalized for 12 hours each year. “At Halloween, the rules remain the same!” Paris police said on “X”, warning that concealing one’s face in public is punishable by a €150 ($170) fine. Carrying a weapon, including a fake one, can carry a sentence of up to three years in prison and a €45,000 fine.
The French protests began in late September, led by high school students seeking improvements to deteriorating school buildings, teacher shortages and a lack of resources, as well as changes to the university admissions system. The movement later broadened, with the Yellow Vests — which began in opposition to rising fuel prices — among those taking to the streets.
More than 550,000 people demonstrated across France on October 17, according to the Interior Ministry. More than 3,000 shops were attacked or looted, some were destroyed, and more than 2,700 people were arrested. The interior minister said more than 1,000 law enforcement officers had been injured since the protest movement began.
Asked about students injured during the protests, President Emmanuel Macron called the violence a “collective failure”. He told YouTuber Hugo Travers that he did not believe any high school student had made demands expecting such consequences, and said he knew no police officer who had signed up to face such violent events.
Saturday’s demonstrations come ahead of a nationwide strike and mobilization called by an inter-union coalition for November 5 over rising living costs.
