Frankfurt rally ends before unrest spreads
Frankfurt police estimated that about 8,000 people attended the afternoon's largely peaceful demonstration, while organizers put attendance at 10,000 in an Instagram post, hessenschau reported. Officers ended the rally around 6:20 p.m. after people set off pyrotechnics and firecrackers and threw stones at police.
Police also attributed the demonstration's breakup to clashes involving left-wing extremists in the Bleichstraße area, according to hessenschau.
Later, dpa reporters saw people enter downtown stores and steal sneakers and other goods. A gun shop was among the businesses attacked. Police reported broken windows at several stores and Molotov cocktails thrown at officers. A police spokesman said officers responded quickly and seized two weapons.
Authorities cordoned off the Zeil shopping street and deployed SEK special police units downtown. Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck, a member of the CDU, told dpa he was shocked by the violence and promised a tough response to the rioters.
Mubarik Sabir, a co-registrant of the demonstration from Generation Aufbruch, one of its two registered organizers, told hessenschau he was deeply saddened and speechless. He said the initiative had done everything it could to prevent such scenes.
Attacks in Cologne and incidents in other cities
In Cologne, people attacked officers on the Domplatte beside the cathedral near the main train station, throwing bottles and bicycles. One person was injured, and police reported taking five people into custody. A thrown e-scooter broke a window on a nearby side street.
Cologne Police President Johannes Hermanns defended the last-minute ban on a march through the city. He said officers had seized Molotov cocktails and emergency hammers from masked people. In his assessment, police intervention late that afternoon had prevented scenes resembling those in Paris and Milan from being broadcast live from Cologne.
Berlin's afternoon Gen Z regelt rally at the Brandenburg Gate drew thousands and remained peaceful. A separate march connected to the broader youth protests, but not organized as part of the initiative's nationwide demonstrations, began in the early evening with about 700 people. Police stopped it before its scheduled end and said confrontations continued for hours afterward.
Reports from Berlin included bottles, firecrackers and eggs being thrown. In a late-evening video on X, police said 27 officers had suffered minor injuries and up to 56 participants had been temporarily detained.
Hamburg's demonstration was largely trouble-free until evening. Near its end, black-clad participants, some masked, repeatedly set off pyrotechnics near the main train station, pulled construction barriers from their anchors and set them on fire. Incidents were also reported in Hanover and Bremen, and police used water cannons in some cities.
Organizers report more than 100,000 participants
Gen Z regelt had called for peaceful demonstrations in more than 30 German cities. Reuters reported that protests took place in 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. Ahead of the events, some businesses boarded up windows and planned to close early because of fears of unrest, including shops along Berlin's upscale Kurfürstendamm boulevard.
Shortly before 8 p.m., a spokesman for the initiative's press team said nationwide attendance exceeded 100,000, with figures from six to eight cities still outstanding. No nationwide police count was initially available.
Earlier figures offered a more limited picture. Reuters reported that official attendance estimates on Saturday afternoon were below the 182,000 people organizers had initially expected. Police counts for Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin totaled as many as 18,000, compared with roughly 36,000 registered on the organizers' website for those cities.
The initiative's press spokesman, who uses only his first name, Amadeo, had welcomed the afternoon turnout before the evening violence. He told dpa that the organizers had no influence over what happened after the rallies ended.
The police union Gewerkschaft der Polizei also issued its preliminary assessment before the severe unrest in Frankfurt and Cologne. Andreas Roßkopf, who heads its federal police section, told the Rheinische Post that the protests themselves had been very peaceful, although tensions had escalated in some cities after the events ended.
Demands and a campaign built through social media
The initiative is seeking more funding for schools, addiction services and psychotherapy, along with action on rising living costs, social justice and climate protection. Reuters also reported that the group opposes compulsory military service and advocates greater investment in education.
The campaign developed rapidly from a TikTok trend calling for demonstrations on October 31 and November 20, according to an October 30 report by Deutschlandfunk. One organizer told the broadcaster that about 30 young people made up the organizing team, having connected through social media only weeks earlier.
Tagesschau, citing SWR reporting and the initiative's Akram Selo, likewise reported that the group was only a few weeks old. On October 20, it began a crowdfunding appeal with a goal of 20,000 euros to fund posters, equipment and mobilization.
European protests and plans for November
Reuters placed the German demonstrations within a wave of Gen Z-led protests across Europe this year. It reported that student-led activism in Serbia had helped remove the country's longtime leader through an election, while demonstrations in France had descended into rioting and looting.
The unrest in Frankfurt in particular evoked events in France. On Saturday, 320,000 people joined marches there, including 70,000 in Paris. France's Interior Ministry said 511 people had been detained nationwide by 8 p.m.
Amadeo said the German initiative regarded the October demonstrations as a first step and intended to mobilize young people again for Europe-wide protests on November 20.
Germany's national school student umbrella organization, BSK, has distanced itself from Gen Z regelt. Reuters reported that it planned a separate protest day on November 20.
