In Germany, a loose alliance of groups called Gen Z regelt (Gen Z is sorting it) has called for supporters to turn out in more than 30 cities demanding more spending on schools, climate protection and housing, and against any plans to return to mandatory military service.
Alexander Throm, of the ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) parliamentary group, wrote in the Handelsblatt business newspaper: “Scenes like those in France must be prevented at all costs.”
But Felix Banaszak, the co-leader of the opposition Green party, cautioned against attempts to place the youth protests under general suspicion in advance.
“The [CDU’s] rhetoric, which seeks to criminalise these protests pre-emptively and paint them as the work of marauding gangs, may even drive people towards radicalisation,” he told the RND media group.
Berlin’s police chief, Barbara Slowik Meisel, said she would deploy an additional 1,500 officers in the capital, though she had little reason to fear that people or property would come under attack.
“We have no concrete evidence of any coordinated looting operations being planned,” she said.
France braces for third…