• Tens of thousands of pupils across Germany are expected to protest against the government’s rearmament policy, which organizers say prepares young people to become ‘cannon fodder’.
  • The protest is the third school boycott in five months, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the end of World War II, with warnings that militarization leads to conflict.
  • The Military Service Modernisation Act introduces mandatory questionnaires for 18-year-olds and medical exams, and restricts men aged 17-45 from traveling abroad for more than three months without military permission.
  • The German government plans to invest €779 billion in defense by the end of the decade, roughly doubling spending compared to the previous five years.
  • Organizers fear that Chancellor Merz’s rhetoric about the necessity of armament for Germany’s and Europe’s security repeats dangerous patterns from history.
  • At previous protests in March, students carried banners with slogans such as ‘The rich want war, the youth want a future’ and ‘Dying is not on the timetable’.

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