After riots in Frankfurt, names of 54 suspects are known

After the serious riots surrounding the “GenZ” protests in Frankfurt am Main, according to authorities, there are so far 54 known suspects.

The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt/Main and the Hessian Ministry of Justice in Wiesbaden announced on Monday that investigations are underway, among other things, for serious breach of the peace, dangerous bodily harm, burglary, physical attacks on law enforcement officers and damage to property. An 18-year-old arrested by the police is now in custody.

According to the information, the teenager is accused of stealing a weapon from a looted gun shop in downtown Frankfurt. There was massive violence there on Saturday after a “GenZ” demonstration. According to the state government and police, 17 shops on the Zeil shopping mile were damaged and five of them were looted.

At its peak, the police had around 1,300 officers on duty and arrested 54 suspects. There were more than 100 officers injured. The emergency services had to deal with up to 1,500 violent disruptors and were sometimes targeted from ambushes, for example with Molotov cocktails and pyrotechnics.

Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU), referring to the findings of the emergency services, then spoke of a group of perpetrators that was "predominantly migrant". There should be no “taboos,” he said.

According to authorities, tens of thousands of people initially took to the streets peacefully during the nationwide youth protests organized by the “GenZ regelt” group on Saturday. The initiative spoke of 120,000 participants. “GenZ” refers roughly to the age group of young people up to the end of their 20s. On the sidelines of the demonstrations, there were also riots in other major cities, such as Cologne and Hamburg.

“Our law enforcement authorities are still at the beginning of the investigation,” said Hesse’s Justice Minister Christian Heinz (CDU) on Monday. Police and public prosecutors would further intensify their cooperation in order to quickly bring perpetrators to account. “In doing so, we are also sending a clear signal for all future gatherings of this kind.”

The riots will also keep the state parliament busy. According to information from Monday, the Green faction in the Hessian state parliament requested a special meeting of the Interior Committee. Among other things, it must be investigated how the serious riots could have occurred despite appropriate preparations, explained their domestic policy spokeswoman Vanessa Gronemann.