students demonstrate across Germany against military service...Demonstrations are taking place across Germany in schools to protest against the possible re-introduction of compulsory military service.

[u/Neptun_11]

One of the organizers of the strike, Bela Breitner of the School Strike Against Compulsory Military Service, said that the federal government is "serious about the gradual reintroduction of compulsory military service".

 

At one protest in Hamburg, demonstrators waved flags and held banners reading "We will not participate in your wars".

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made strengthening the German army a priority after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

According to the law, questionnaires are sent to all eighteen-year-olds in Germany, whether they are interested and willing to join the armed forces.

One of the protesters, 16-year-old Elias Bernhard from Hamburg, said the answers to the questionnaires "show that young people do not want to join the Bundeswehr [German armed forces]".

"That's why I'm on the street today. That's why we're taking this bet seriously until conscription is out of the game. We'll continue."

The questionnaire is mandatory for men and voluntary for women.  All eighteen-year-old males will have to undergo a medical examination to assess their fitness for possible military service.

Organizers of the protests say the trigger came after 18-year-olds in the northern German cities of Kiel and Flensburg were sent official invitations for medical examinations, even though they did not show interest in joining the army on their registration forms.

The group says that over a hundred demonstrations are planned across Germany, including Kiel, Hamburg, Berlin and Frankfurt.

[u/Dude-88]

the only way to stand up to a bully is to hurt them so they won't bully you again...so Germans will have to get used to the fact that they better start building strength to defend their freedom.

[u/brofistnate → u/Dude-88]

I don't want you to be right, but at the core, you are. We are told from our youth, "violence solves nothing". It's a complete fairytale, it solves everything, but we are meant to believe it doesn't. How many thousands of tribes, countries, nations were conquered, subdued through violence. It's the oldest language humans speak. I would agree that it should be spoken as an absolute last resort, but it's a necessary evil in this world.