German rioters looted shops in central Frankfurt late on Saturday as clashes broke out in cities in Germany over the cost of living.
In addition to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial hub violence also occurred in Berlin, Cologne, and Hamburg, where police said they used water cannons to disperse protesters who were attacking emergency workers with fireworks, stones, and bottles.
Earlier in the day, thousands took part in largely peaceful demonstrations. These were organized by the campaign group Gen Z regelt meaning “Gen Z takes charge” to protest against underfunding in schools, the high cost of living, and cuts to public spending and military service.
The unrest in Germany comes after similar youth-led mass protests in France, where more than 320,000 people also demonstrated on Saturday.
On Sunday, Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild newspaper that police had prevented “violence like that seen in Paris” in recent weeks overnight, and he called for “harsh punishments” for rioters and looters.
Overnight, police closed off a large section of Frankfurt’s main shopping street. A police spokesperson said many arrests were made in the city.
Authorities in Frankfurt, Munich, and Berlin reported as many as 18,000 protesters, roughly half of what the organizers had estimated on their website. German media say tens of thousands protested in German cities on Saturday.
Gen Z regulator spokesperson Lina Friedrich said the demonstrations were “to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion.”
She said, “What matters most to us is better support for the health and education systems. We are against compulsory military service, and we are in favor of a fairer distribution of the burden.”
On Saturday night, Frankfurt police reported that “violent riots” were taking place in the city center and that special police units had been deployed.
Police said that the windows of several shops had been smashed and that molotov cocktails had been thrown at emergency services.
Officials reported that the windows of a gun shop had been smashed and that two weapons had been seized following the arrest of a suspect. Other shops were also broken into, with items such as trainers being stolen.
Roman Poseck, interior minister of Hesse state, whose largest city is Frankfurt, said that “around 100 clearly identified left-wing extremists” had infiltrated the protest in the city. He added that the way the protests had ended was “shameful.”
“We all have those images from France in our minds—looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles, and attacks on police officers… France must not be held up as a model in this regard.”
Similar incidents occurred in other German cities, following demonstrations that were largely peaceful.
In Cologne, police reported that officers were attacked close to the main train station, with bottles thrown and a bicycle hurled.
Cologne’s police chief Johannes Hermanns said it was “deeply saddening that young people who wanted to peacefully demonstrate for their future were infiltrated today by extremists who had nothing but violence in mind.”
A smaller demonstration in Berlin in the evening following larger protests during the day left 27 police officers injured and up to 56 people temporarily detained, according to Berlin police.
In Hamburg, individuals dressed in black set off fireworks and lit barricades on fire, with public broadcaster NDR reporting that 120 people were arrested.
The protests in Germany occurred on the same day as other large-scale demonstrations across Europe.
In France, more than 320,000 people joined a third consecutive weekend of largely peaceful protests in cities nationwide, calling for action on the high cost of living and poor public services, particularly in education.
Thousands of police officers were deployed throughout the country, and in some cities officers fired tear gas at demonstrators.
According to the French interior ministry, there were more than 770 arrests across France during Saturday’s demonstrations, roughly half the number seen in the previous week’s protests.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said a police officer had been injured by a molotov cocktail, and French prosecutors subsequently opened an attempted murder investigation.
Police in Paris said several hundred rioters had attacked security forces with projectiles.
French protest organizers, the Gilet Jaune, or Yellow Vests, have said that dozens of protesters have been seriously injured in recent demonstrations across the country, with many hurt by “grenades.”
France suspended the use of one type of stun grenade during policing of student protests in early October after a 15-year-old’s hand was blown off, but the French newspaper Le Monde has reported that police continued using a different model in later protests.
Protests also occurred in Italy, with some clashes between police and demonstrators in Rome and Turin.
In Portugal, police moved to clear a new tent camp that had been set up after thousands marched to protest a rental bill they argue could worsen the country’s housing crisis, where house prices have more than doubled over the past decade.
Recently, mostly young protesters have taken to the streets across a swathe of European nations: France, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Serbia, and Albania.
Although the specific demands differ from country to country, the protesters have largely concentrated on cost-of-living issues, such as access to housing, the quality of education, and cuts to public services.
