In Italy, hundreds of thousands of students and workers took to the streets on Saturday to demand better educational rights and controls on the cost of living. Although the demonstrations remained largely peaceful, the Italian government responded firmly by deploying the military and passing a new security decree that lowers the legal threshold for the detention of minors.
Tens of thousands of young people rallied across German cities on Saturday, in a wave of demonstrations organized by the youth movement "Gen Z regelt" ("Gen Z Takes Charge"). Protesters gathered in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Cologne to oppose deteriorating school facilities, inflationary pressures, the potential reinstatement of mandatory military service, and climate change. While the protests began peacefully, incidents of looting and clashes broke out, forcing police to deploy water cannons to disperse the crowds.
In Switzerland, hundreds of people took to the streets in Zurich and Basel. Rallying behind the "GenZ regelt" slogan—circulated on social media with the declaration “We've had enough – in Switzerland too”—the protesters openly expressed their solidarity with, and support for the youth-led movements in neighboring nations.
