Gen Z protest: Bundestag debates consequences after riots

Does Germany have to be afraid of its 14 to 29 year olds, the so-called Gen Z? Yes, if they protest violently like last Saturday, says AfD MP Bernd Baumann. Even though the protests remained peaceful in most of the more than 30 cities and riots were reported primarily in Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Hamburg, one thing was clear to him: Germany was staring into an abyss.

"The outbreaks of violence at the weekend show what destructive forces are converging. Behind all of this is an extreme political left that wants to overthrow our bourgeois Western society," said Baumann. "And this left is now uniting with huge milieus of radical migrants, especially those Muslims who do not want to integrate." Only one party remains a bulwark to prevent worse conditions - namely the AfD.

Dobrindt stays with “Chaoten”

This representation is a distorted image, replies the Union's first speaker. Even if ministers rarely take the floor in current events - Alexander Dobrindt did so and, as Federal Minister of the Interior, first thanked the efforts of the well-prepared police officers last weekend: "You ensured that we did not experience any street battles or mass looting like in France. It is a distorted picture that you are painting here. We had the situation under control."

Peaceful protests are of course a protected fundamental right, said the Federal Minister of the Interior. In the past few days he had also been clearly criticized by individual politicians in the CDU and SPD for his quick conclusion that the violence on Saturday evening had come from "radical left-wing chaotics" and perpetrators from the migrant milieu.

In the current hour she repeated Dobrindt again:

Debate about the attribution “migrant”

Green MP Marcel Emmerich questioned this "completely obvious" question: "When are you a migrant? When you have immigrated yourself? When your parents have immigrated?" A Federal Minister of the Interior who uses such terms must explain who he means - "you couldn't do that here in the plenary session either," Emmerich said to Dobrindt. "And that's why you're creating social damage at this point."

The SPD speakers in the current hour showed how different the view and assessment of the migrant environment can be. Helge Lindh criticized the fact that he was never addressed as a migrant, even though he also had a Finnish passport. It always refers to a specific group and this term hurts millions of people.

With a view to the violence in Frankfurt, SPD MP Sebastian Fiedler recommended talking to the police officers on site. Fiedler himself was a police officer for almost 30 years and described the alleged perpetrators:

"We were born into a broken world"

It wasn't the topic of this current moment, but there was support from several factions for the actual protest goals of Gen Z: more money for schools, lower rents and costs of living, more climate protection and social justice.

“I want my generation not to have to be afraid of the future, but we were born into a broken world,” said Luke Hoß from the Left, at 25 the youngest speaker in the debate. "For as long as I can remember, one catastrophe followed the next."

That's why November 20th is already the date for the next big Gen Z protest. And Interior Minister Dobrindt made it clear: If violence occurs, we will be prepared.