From Kathmandu to Climate Protests in Europe: How Teens Fuel Global Protest Movements

By: Yusra Asad

When Nepal’s government announced a social media ban in September 2025, it expected to strengthen control. Rather, it sparked an uprising by the youth that led Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign in a few days. According to Koirala, a doctoral researcher at the University of Wales, at least 19 protestors were killed on the first day of this announcement—police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.

The three-day wave of protests, which are now referred to as the “Gen Z Protests,” began on September 8, when the blockades shut down access to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube—platforms that are at the center of how young Nepalis communicate and organize everything. Students and teen professionals flooded Kathmandu streets shortly, carrying banners against nepotism and corruption. The protestors mocked the children of politicians on social media by the name “Nepo Kids,” which was described as a hallmark of widespread outrage against deep-rooted privilege. By the second day, protests had increased immensely. Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based international news network known for its global reports on political events, reported that protestors breached the perimeter of parliament, burned the offices of political parties, and continued protesting despite Prime Minister Oli stepping down. The army enforced a total curfew across the nation in response, but the youth protesters used VPNs and encrypted apps to keep organizing.

The Kathmandu Post stated how many of the protestors, some still in their school uniforms, had organized the youth-led “Hami Nepal” network before the ban even took place.

What makes this protest unique is not only its scale, but also the main focus and participation of young people. Social media was both the subject and tool: its announced banning angered individuals, and its prior use had allowed them to access rapid mobilization. CNN states that protests were sustained by resentment against the “Nepo Kids” because they enjoyed their privilege while unfortunate kids faced unemployment and despairing futures.

Nepal’s uprising is not an event that was isolated to the ban of social media; it was a worldwide phenomenon of youths in the streets.

Similarly, Nepal’s young activists demonstrate how moral outrage and online skills can transform local issues into global movements, illustrating that youth protests are no longer isolated events but rather reflective of a larger trend of generational change. Greta Thunberg, for example, turned a one-person climate protest outside Sweden’s parliament building into the Fridays for Future movement that encouraged millions of individuals across over 150 countries. Her discourse has been analyzed by an honors thesis on the speeches of Thunberg, which concludes that she uses “counter-discourse” to challenge adult power but also draws on the “dominant discourse” of children as prospective citizens, so she can establish legitimacy. Both Greta and Nepal’s generation of kids highlight how youth-fueled protests are driven by technological intelligence and through moral identity. 

Teens' roles in global protest movements should not be ignored. From the European climate activists to marches for gun control throughout the United States, and all the way to the streets of Kathmandu, teens show that they are not passive citizens waiting for change to appear on its own. They can start debates, topple leaders, and inspire others behind borders. Nepal’s Gen Z uprising, of course, did not solve all of Nepal’s political issues, but they made the truth apparent that resides far beyond South Asia: teenage protests, cyber, or physically on the streets—they have the ability to shake the foundations of power.

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Works Cited

Koirala, J. (2025). Gen Z Protests and role of social media in Nepal (September 8–10, 2025) (p. 5) [Preprint, University of Wales]. https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/68c2282f23be8e43d63a1ba4/original/gen-z-protests-and-role-of-social-media-in-nepal-september-8-10-2025.pdf

E. Leung, L. (2025). The Greta effect: How does Greta Thunberg use the discourse of youth in her movement for climate justice? [University of Calgary]. https://doi.org/10.33774/coe-2025-x0j4z

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