Pupil protests block entrances at two Berlin grammar schools, police open investigations

Blockades at two Berlin grammar schools

On Friday, 16 October 2026, pupils blocked the entrances of two grammar schools in Berlin-Friedrichshain, according to police. The Andreas-Gymnasium on Koppenstraße and the Leibniz-Gymnasium on Schleiermacherstraße were both affected, and a police spokeswoman confirmed to Tagesspiegel that spontaneous gatherings formed in front of the gates. From around 7.30 am, about 60 pupils at each school blocked the entrances, some gates were locked, and other pupils were prevented from getting in. Police figures differ across reports, with one early account giving about 50 pupils at one site and later accounts putting the figure at about 60 at each school.

The schools told parents and children in the morning that access was blocked, and teachers looked after the children inside. Later, police escorted about 60 children out of the building through a side entrance to a primary school, mostly pupils from grades 5 and 6. Emergency and crisis service staff and teachers looked after them there until the end of lessons, and parents could collect them, police said on their WhatsApp channel.

Police response and injury

Police said they were initially on site with about 30 officers and that the deployment later peaked at 150. Police spokesman Florian Nath said the pupils' protest stayed peaceful, and a march that formed and moved to another Friedrichshain school caused no disruption. A separate gathering behind the grammar school, with about 50 young people whom police said mostly did not attend the school, saw scuffles with officers. Police said officers were pressed at the start of the assemblies and had to use pushing and shoving.

A woman and a man were briefly detained on suspicion of property damage and insult respectively. A 67-year-old woman was hurt when she tried to take her rubbish to a bin area. Police said youths tried to pull bins out after she opened the barrier, and she tried to stop them. A 17-year-old man, whom police say is not a pupil at the school, was provisionally arrested in connection with the incident. Police are investigating breach of the peace, bodily injury, assault and property damage. Left-wing groups on Instagram accused police of violent action, while a video circulating online shows a scuffle and pupils chanting that they were peaceful and asking what the officers were.

Demands, banners and the wider wave

The Initiative Schulstreik gegen Wehrpflicht says the protests call for more money for education and against conscription. Some participants carried Palestinian flags, and Instagram videos show chants of 'Viva, viva, Palästina'. A banner read 'Stoppt Wehrpflicht und Bildungskürzungen', and a call for an education strike on 20 November has been issued, with left-wing groups mobilising for it. Tagesspiegel reported that people from the left-wing scene who do not attend the school also took part. The principal of the Andreas-Gymnasium declined to comment on the blockade.

The protests have spread beyond Berlin. On Monday, 12 October, about 150 pupils at the Französisches Gymnasium in Mitte blocked entrances, which Tagesspiegel described as the first pupil protest in Germany in solidarity with the school protests in France. In Hamburg, pupils at the Max-Brauer-Schule in Altona protested on Thursday, 15 October. On Friday, 16 October, about 70 people took part in a protest at the Emilie-Wüstenfeld-Gymnasium in Eimsbüttel, according to police, with no incidents. The Hamburg protests also targeted cuts and conscription and showed solidarity with French pupils.