Thousands of students have protested in Copenhagen against Danish government plans to cut student allowances, joining a wider wave of youth demonstrations across Europe.
Organisers said up to 13,000 people marched from the city hall square to parliament under the banner “Enough is Enough”. The proposed changes are intended to free up money for defence spending.
Student associations said about 40,000 students were on strike at 57 schools across Denmark in opposition to the plans.
Danish student protests target allowance cuts
Denmark has provided an automatic student allowance to everyone over 18 enrolled in schools or university since 1970, regardless of their parents’ income.
Students living with their parents currently receive 1,154 kroner (£133) a month, while those living independently receive 7,426 kroner (£857), according to the figures provided.
Under the proposed reforms, students living with parents earning more than 700,000 kroner (£80,800) a year would lose the allowance altogether.
Those whose parents earn between 419,589 kroner (£48,400) and 700,000 kroner would remain eligible, but their payments would be staggered according to household income.
The Higher Education Ministry said about 14,000 students were expected to lose their stipends, while a further 8,000 would receive less.
Protesters in Copenhagen chanted “Broken Promises” and carried signs reading “Save SU”, referring to the Danish name for the allowance, alongside messages including “Less Support, Less Educated” and “Don’t Cheat the Young”. Police maintained a heavy presence during the demonstration.
Oscar Tonsberg Hoffmann, president of the Danish High School Students Association and one of the protest organisers, said: “In Denmark, we get funding and economic support for getting an education, and we’re very proud of this.”
He said dismantling the system would be wrong and described it as part of “one of the world’s strongest educational systems”.
Kieran Hindshaw, a 23-year-old agronomy student, said he felt betrayed by the government.
“I’m infuriated that we finally get a supposedly ‘red’ government in Denmark that includes the left parties … we get cuts to our welfare and to the economies of young people whilst they’re funding corporate tax reductions and warfare,” he said.
The government has also proposed restricting unemployment benefits for recent university graduates to those who have worked during 18 of the last 24 months of their studies.
Industry Minister Martin Lidegaard, who leads the Social Liberal Party, said the cuts “are not pleasant decisions”.
The Copenhagen demonstration follows student protests in France that have spread to other European countries, where wider concerns have included the cost of living and housing pressures facing young people.
