Berlin/Frankfurt am Main. First tens of thousands of young people, mostly peacefully, on the streets - then there were sometimes serious riots, looting and arrests: After youth demonstrations in several cities, the situation escalated in the evening and on Sunday night, especially in Frankfurt am Main. According to police, incendiary bottles were thrown and rioters destroyed shop windows. There were also violent scenes in Cologne.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) identified certain groups as the perpetrators of riots. “Violent left-wing groups and chaotic people from the migrant milieu hijacked the peaceful afternoon demonstrations last night,” he told “Bild”. "The rioters and looters will be identified and held accountable. This breach of the peace must be met with harsh punishments." The police prevented “excesses of violence like in Paris”. “The police operational concept with a massive presence and decentralized deployment of forces has worked.”
The interior ministers of Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, Roman Poseck and Herbert Reul (both CDU), also blamed left-wing extremists and violent young men; Poseck, like Dobrindt, spoke of the fact that they “mostly come from a migrant background”.
The “Gen Z regulates” initiative called for peaceful demonstrations in around 30 cities. The abbreviation stands for “Generation Z” of around 15 to 30 year olds. The demands included more money for schools, addiction help and psychotherapy, measures to combat rising costs of living, for example in housing, for social justice and more climate protection. She rejects the introduction of compulsory military service and the expansion of state surveillance.
Before the escalations, the initiative drew a positive conclusion. Hundreds of thousands of people showed what they were taking to the streets for. There were further demos in Mainz, Munich, Nuremberg, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Dresden and Leipzig, with many migrant young people among the peaceful participants.
“We had no influence on what happened after the end of the rallies,” said a spokesman. The initiative published a statement in the evening in which it distanced itself from “any form of violence as well as violent actions by other groups or individuals” who were not part of the demonstrations. “We stand for peaceful protest.”
In some cities the mood changed after the meetings. In Frankfurt, the police cordoned off the Zeil shopping street and special operations forces (SEK) were on duty. In the city center, dpa reporters observed people breaking into stores and stealing sneakers and other items. A gun store was also attacked. According to police, Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency services. 54 people between the ages of 13 and 29 were arrested. “In any case, most of them have German citizenship,” said Poseck. 17 shops were damaged and five were looted.
In Cologne there were attacks on police officers near the main train station, with bottles and bicycles being thrown. Police Chief Johannes Hermanns said: “We have seized Molotov cocktails and emergency hammers from masked people.” Bottles, firecrackers and eggs being thrown were reported in Berlin, and burning barricades were reported in Hamburg. In some cities, police used water cannons.
Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) told the German Press Agency: "I am shocked by the excesses of violence in Frankfurt, which will not go without consequences." CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann told the dpa that it was sad that peaceful protest was no longer possible in some cases. “The real goal of the demonstrations remained questionable until the end - for some it was the perfect cover for violence and riots, which the majority of participants certainly rejected.”
Green Party leader Franziska Brantner condemned the riots. “Violence harms the legitimate concerns of the many who protested peacefully,” she told the “Rheinische Post”. The Left Chairwoman Ines Schwerdtner told the newspaper: “Neither the affordability crisis nor the social cuts nor the broad will for peaceful protest disappears because small groups of frustrated people rioted afterwards.”
The SPD in the Bundestag called for a national education summit with states and municipalities, for which Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) should take the initiative. “The right to good education and training is a focus of the protests and an area in which we have a duty to act quickly now,” said SPD parliamentary group deputy Dagmar Schmidt before the evening riots and emphasized. “Good education must be affordable for everyone.”
The “Gen Z regulates” initiative announced on its homepage on Sunday: “On November 14th we will be taking to the streets again across Germany.” There had previously been talk of participation in Europe-wide protests on November 20th. An alliance is already calling for participation in an “International Youth Strike Day” on this day. These include the Federal Student Conference, which distanced itself from the actions of “Gen Z regulates” - on the grounds that their organizational structures were unclear.
Youth protests have also been taking place abroad for several weeks - including in France. On Saturday, 320,000 people took part in demonstrations in the neighboring country. In the evening there were arguments. In Paris and Lyon, police used tear gas, as seen in live streams.
