Copenhagen (AFP) – Several thousand young people are expected to take to the streets in Denmark on Wednesday to protest against the government's plan to cut scholarships.

Published on: 04/11/2026 - 01:59

Under the banner "enough is enough now", 11 high school and student associations have called for a rally from 12:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. GMT) on City Hall Square in Copenhagen, from where the procession will join Parliament.

According to the Federation of Danish High School Students, some 10,000 young people are expected in the capital, and other demonstrations are planned in the rest of the country.

In its finance bill, the center-left government wants, in order to support the defense effort, to eliminate the public study allowance (SU), until now universal, for students living with their parents if they have a total annual income greater than 94,000 euros.

The amount of SU would be progressive for students whose parents earn between 55,500 and 94,000 euros per year.

According to the Ministry of Higher Education, around 14,000 students would lose their allowance and around 8,000 would see it reduced.

In force since 1970, the SU is one of the cornerstones of the egalitarian Danish university system, allowing every young person to study regardless of their parents' income.

Taxable, it amounts to some 152 euros when the student lives with his parents and 980 when he has his own accommodation.

In the finance bill, the government also proposes that unemployment benefits for new graduates be paid only to those who have worked for 18 of the last 24 months of their studies.

“Hostility towards education”

“When we deliberately choose to take money from the pockets of young people who are studying, it is difficult to see anything other than hostility towards education,” said the president of the Federation of Danish High School Students, Oscar Tønsberg Hoffmann.

“We are not suspending classes for fun, but to show politicians how seriously we take their cuts to our educational opportunities,” he added.

Some 30,000 high school students from 40 establishments planned to strike on Wednesday.

According to Oscar Tønsberg Hoffmann, the high school organizations wanted to initiate a dialogue with the government, in vain.

“When, on the one hand, we make savings at the expense of young people who are studying and, on the other, we refuse to answer for it to us, in my eyes, it is simply pissing on future generations,” he lamented.

Within the government, the Popular Socialist Party (SF) and the Radical Party (R), until now opposed to cuts in education, have however defended the project on several occasions.

The Minister of Economy and Interior, Pia Olsen Dyhr, had to explain herself because she had previously presented SF as a party that would not touch the scholarship system.

“It is no secret that this is not an initiative that comes from us. But we have reached compromises in this government and I fully accept them,” said the minister, who is also head of the SF.

For Martin Lidegaard, Minister of Industry and leader of the radicals, the cuts "are not pleasant decisions. It is an economically responsible policy".

Copenhagen police announced to the media that they would be highly visible during the demonstration.

The organizers, for their part, insisted on the “peaceful” nature of the gathering.

© 2026 AFP

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