Thousands of young people are demonstrating for better living conditions under the motto “Gen Z regulates”. In the evening there were riots and attacks on police officers in several cities.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt praises the police for their successful action against violent criminals at the Halloween demonstrations.
The protests were peaceful in the afternoon but turned violent in several cities in the evening.
In Berlin, the police ended a demonstration early because of stone throwing and pyrotechnics and temporarily arrested up to 56 people.
In Frankfurt, shop windows were damaged and Molotov cocktails were thrown.
Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne. After the serious riots and looting on Sunday night, Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) assessed the results of the security forces' operations positively, but at the same time announced consistent action against the perpetrators.
Dobrindt told BILD: "Excesses of violence like in Paris were prevented thanks to our highly committed police forces. I would like to thank all police officers for their successful deployment. The police operational concept with a massive presence and decentralized deployment of forces has worked. Violent left-wing groups and chaotic people from the migrant milieu hijacked the peaceful afternoon demonstrations yesterday evening. The rioters and looters will be identified and held accountable. On this breach of the peace “Severe punishments must follow.”
The Halloween rallies organized by the campaign were planned in 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Among other things, demonstrations were made for better education, lower costs of living and the abolition of conscription.
The number of participants probably fell well short of the organizers' expectations. Official figures from the afternoon suggested that attendance was below the 182,000 originally expected. Police in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin reported up to 18,000 protesters, half of the roughly 36,000 listed on the organizers' website.
Violent riots in several major cities
The security authorities expected the demonstrations, which coincided with Halloween, to be largely peaceful. But some of the protests on Saturday evening turned violent in several German cities.
The police in Berlin ended a demonstration early. The reasons for this were, among other things, stones being thrown at police officers and the burning of pyrotechnics, said police spokeswoman Julia Scholz in the evening. That's why the protest procession, which began in the middle, was stopped early in consultation with the organizer.
“It’s like a kind of cat-and-mouse game here now,” said Scholz. A few crowds of people were still there, including onlookers. Some of the events took place in side streets. However, the majority of the demonstration dispersed. The police wrote on
According to the spokeswoman, after around an hour, around 8 p.m., the incident had completely resolved itself and the situation was calm again. 27 officers were slightly injured and up to 56 participants were temporarily arrested, said police spokesman Jörn Iffländer in a video on X late in the evening.
Meanwhile, there were break-ins in Frankfurt: the windows of several shops in downtown Frankfurt were smashed, the Frankfurt police said on X. Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency services.
The Frankfurt police cordoned off the Zeil shopping street. Special police forces were deployed in the city center. The Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) announced tough action against the rioters in view of the riots. "I am shocked by the excesses of violence in Frankfurt. We saw images that we did not want to see," said Poseck when asked by the German Press Agency.
Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) is “shocked by the excesses of violence” in Frankfurt. They would not remain without consequences, Rhein told the German Press Agency. “Anyone who behaves like the attackers in downtown Frankfurt puts themselves outside of our society,” said Rhein. “We will carefully assess the aggressors, groups of perpetrators and the course of events and draw our conclusions.” At the same time, the Prime Minister thanked the police officers for their efforts.
Interior Minister Dobrindt also receives support from the police union (GdP). Andreas Rosskopf, GdP chairman for the federal police sector, called for an unmistakable signal from the rule of law: “We now expect short-term judgments from the courts with harsh penalties, which must be very severe.” “The judiciary must now demonstrate that it is acting quickly and with the full force of the law against such violent crimes,” Rosskopf told BILD.
Window broken by thrown e-scooter
In Cologne there were attacks on police officers on the Domplatte near the main train station. Bottles were thrown, bicycles flew, and one person was injured. Rioters were arrested. According to police, there were five people taken into custody. In a side street, a window was broken by a thrown e-scooter.
Cologne police chief Johannes Hermanns defended the city's short-term ban on the elevator. "We seized Molotov cocktails and emergency hammers from masked people. What they were taken for probably doesn't need any explanation!" said Hermanns. He is certain that “this late afternoon we prevented images from being broadcast live from Cologne that are reminiscent of Paris and Milan.”
Gen Z Speaker: Just the first step
Before the evening's events, the “Gen Z regulates” initiative had drawn a positive conclusion from the youth protests in the afternoon. “We had no influence on what happened after the end of the rallies,” said a spokesman for the press team, who only wants to appear publicly under his first name, Amadeo. “Today a hundred thousand people showed what they are taking to the streets for,” Amadeo told the German Press Agency.
At the same time, he emphasized that his initiative wanted to mobilize many young people for action again in three weeks. "For us, this is just the first step. We would like to take part in the Europe-wide protests on November 20th."
