Shops were looted in central Frankfurt late Saturday as clashes broke out between protesters and police in the city and several other German locations, following large-scale demonstrations that had been largely peaceful earlier in the day.
Apart from Frankfurt, Germany’s financial centre, violent incidents were also reported in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. Police said they deployed water cannons to disperse demonstrators who attacked emergency personnel with fireworks, stones and bottles, BBC reports.
Earlier, thousands of people took part in demonstrations organised by the campaign group Gen Z regelt, which translates to “Gen Z takes charge”. The protesters raised concerns over inadequate funding for schools, the rising cost of living, cuts to public spending and compulsory military service.
The unrest in Germany comes after similar large-scale, youth-led demonstrations in France, where more than 320,000 people also took to the streets on Saturday.
According to AFP, police cordoned off a large section of Frankfurt’s main shopping street. A police spokesperson confirmed that numerous arrests had been made in the city.
Authorities in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin estimated that up to 18,000 people participated in the demonstrations, approximately half the number anticipated by the organisers, according to estimates published on their website.
Lina Friedrich, a spokesperson for Gen Z regelt, said the demonstrations were aimed at “fighting for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion”.
She said the group’s main priorities were improving support for the healthcare and education systems. Friedrich also expressed opposition to compulsory military service and called for a fairer distribution of the burden.
Although the daytime demonstrations remained largely peaceful, tensions escalated and violence broke out after nightfall.
In a post on X, Frankfurt police reported “violent riots” in the city centre. They said the windows of several shops had been smashed and Molotov cocktails had been thrown at emergency service personnel.
In subsequent updates, police said the windows of a gun shop had also been broken. Officers seized two weapons after arresting a suspect.
Roman Poseck, interior minister of Hesse, the state of which Frankfurt is the capital, said that around 100 individuals identified as left-wing extremists had infiltrated the demonstration. He described the way the protests had ended as “shameful”.
Poseck said that the images of unrest in France, including looting, burning buildings, torched police vehicles and attacks on police officers, remained fresh in everyone’s minds. He stressed that France should not be regarded as a model in this regard.
