The youngest member of the Bundestag, Lisa Schubert (Left), called on her generation to carry out further protests in the plenary session. “We have every right to be angry,” Schubert said on Friday in the debate about last weekend’s “Gen Z” protests. "Let's not be intimidated. Let's take the streets."
Federal Education and Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU), who spoke directly after Schubert, painted a different picture of the young generation. She is “extremely happy” that the youth protests “are not essentially characterized by anger, but by commitment and objective arguments.” At the same time, Prien announced talks with young people across the country.
Last weekend more than 100,000 people took to the streets in many cities. These included young people who demonstrated for more money for schools, against rising costs of living and against compulsory military service. In the evening there were riots in several cities, especially in Frankfurt am Main. The Hessian Interior Ministry reported more than 100 injured police officers.
Schubert, who has been a member of the Bundestag since August 2025, began her speech with her own protest experience. For almost ten years she has been “on the streets together with many others”. In the end, politicians “always make decisions in the interests of the corporations”. "The disappointment of my generation runs deep. And sooner or later disappointment turns into anger. The barrel is full," she said.
“A policy for the rich” is being made in the Bundestag, and the government is against an inheritance tax and a wealth tax. Her generation is angry “because there is only coal for rearmament” and “because there is only pasta with pesto again.”
Schubert explicitly referred to her age. If the federal government doesn't listen to the demonstrators, it should listen to them, "as the youngest member of this parliament, when I repeat the demands of my generation."
Schubert listed four demands: a functioning education system, no obligation to serve in arms, an affordable life as well as good medical care, a secure pension and social security. “We do not want to and will not shoot other people,” she said. Added to this is the fight against climate change. "That's not far-fetched. That's not radical."
In her constituency in Düsseldorf she saw cavalry squadrons, water cannons and evacuation tanks on Saturday, even before the protests began. In retrospect, the effort turned out to be “completely exaggerated”. “But on the other side of the Rhine the sticks were flying,” said Schubert. Her Instagram feed was then full of videos “that explicitly show police violence.”
She accused the Interior Minister of not allowing the police to cross borders and instead blaming “the young wild ones, the migrants.” “There they are again, the racist narratives.” Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) told “Bild” that “violent left-wing groups and chaotic people from the migrant milieu” had hijacked the protests in the evening. Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) called the group of perpetrators in Frankfurt "predominantly migrant".
“We who take to the streets are not criminals,” said Schubert. “We are Gen Z. A generation that stands together.”
Federal Education and Family Minister Karin Prien “consciously” began her speech by thanking the police. The fact that the demonstrations “remained largely peaceful” is due not least to the “consciously de-escalating strategy” of the police and their youth work. “Equally,” she thanked the young people “who, for the most part, exercised their right to demonstrate peacefully.” This is “a natural part of our democracy”.
Prien rejected the image of young people in conflict with the police. She referred to the Shell youth study: Young people “traditionally have a high level of trust in our police”. In her view, Schubert's portrayal is based on a “misunderstanding of reality”.
Schubert spoke on behalf of “my generation”. Prien countered that “youth doesn’t exist at all”, but rather “very diverse currents, opinions, views, feelings”. She says that “also as a mother of three sons”.
In a question, a member of the Left Party asked how Prien explained a video in which police officers watched for several minutes as a violent criminal tried to break into a store. Prien said she was not familiar with the video. Misconduct, including by the police, is cleared up in Germany through media reports and courts.
Prien Schubert was right on one point: Because of demographic developments, one must ensure that the interests of young people “are not only heard, but also taken into account”. After the weekend, we should not only talk about excesses of violence, but “above all about the concerns of young people.”
When it came to military service, she contradicted Schubert. “By the way, you can also be a young person and be in favor of compulsory military service and military service,” said Prien. She called Schubert's depiction that nothing was happening for young people in Germany “simply absurd.” She referred to the legal right to all-day care and the StartChances program for schools.
Your ministry is constantly talking to more than 80 youth associations and the Federal Student Conference. Prien expressly thanked the student council: They had declared that they would not take part in protests where it was unclear who was organizing them and whether violence was being used.
According to Prien, the ministry wants to organize generational dialogues nationwide from next week onwards, and a kick-off event is planned at the start. A children and youth summit with more than 500 young people from all over Germany is also scheduled to take place in Bonn on December 3rd and 4th, with 50 dialogue formats.
