Germany’s Gen Z cost-of-living protests turn violent as rioters loot Frankfurt shops
Youth-led protests over the cost of living, school funding, spending cuts and military service drew tens of thousands of people across Germany on Saturday and were largely peaceful during the day, but turned violent after dark in Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, the BBC and AFP reported. Rioters looted shops in central Frankfurt, including a gun store, police said. The situation calmed overnight into Sunday.
What happened: The demonstrations were organized by the campaign group Gen Z regelt in more than 30 cities, Anadolu reported. Frankfurt police broke up the city’s march early Saturday evening after fireworks were set off and stones were thrown at officers, tagesschau reported. Later, shop windows were smashed, trash bins were set on fire and Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency services, police said.
The gun store: Police said the windows of a gun shop were smashed and that officers arrested a suspect and seized two weapons, the BBC reported. Two shoe stores were among the shops looted, according to tagesschau. Police sealed off the Zeil shopping street, and the situation calmed around 3 a.m. Sunday.
Arrests and crowd size: Frankfurt police reported 30 arrests by Sunday morning and had more than 1,000 officers deployed, tagesschau reported. Anadolu reported that police arrested more than 200 people across Germany on Saturday night. Organizers said some 120,000 people took part nationwide, AFP reported, while authorities in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin reported as many as 18,000 protesters, according to the BBC.
What officials say: Roman Poseck, the interior minister of Hesse state, said about 100 clearly identified left-wing extremists had infiltrated the Frankfurt protest, the BBC and AFP reported. Police used water cannons in several cities, and at least one officer was injured in Frankfurt, AFP reported.
What we don’t know yet: There is no single official nationwide count of arrests or injuries yet, and crowd figures from police and organizers differ widely.