Shops looted in Germany after protests over education and living costs
Tens of thousands marched across Germany for better education and lower living costs, while Frankfurt police reported petrol bomb attacks on emergency services.
- Shops in Frankfurt were looted and damaged by hooded rioters following nationwide demonstrations in Germany.
- The demonstrations, organized by a youth-led group, involved tens of thousands protesting for improved education funding and relief from rising living costs.
- While the main protests were described as largely peaceful, violent disturbances in Frankfurt included smashing windows and throwing Molotov cocktails at emergency services.
- German officials warned that extremist groups, particularly from the far-left, were exploiting the protests, leading to the outbreak of looting and violence.
Police in Frankfurt were trying to contain a late-night outbreak of looting on Saturday (October 31), when hooded rioters targeted shops following demonstrations across Germany.
A Reuters witness reported that at least two shops had been looted and several others damaged in the country’s financial hub.
“Violent disturbances are continuing,” Frankfurt police wrote on X. “In the city centre, windows have been smashed at several shops. Molotov cocktails are also being thrown at the emergency services. We urge all bystanders to avoid the city centre or to leave the area.”
The demonstrations had brought out tens of thousands across Germany’s biggest cities to press for improvements in education and relief from rising living costs.
Authorities described the Halloween protests as largely peaceful, although barricades were set alight in Hamburg.
The prospect of unrest had already affected some businesses’ plans.
Windows were boarded up and early closures planned in German cities, including along Berlin’s luxury shopping boulevard, Kurfürstendamm.
Roman Poseck, interior minister of Hesse, said: “We all have those images from France in our minds, looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles, and attacks on police officers.”
“France must not be held up as a model in this regard.”
Officials warned that extremists were attempting to exploit the protests.
The federal interior ministry identified involvement in the mobilisation by parts of Germany’s far-left extremist scene.
Some groups linked to extremist movements abroad had also joined efforts to gather support, it said.
Rallies in 34 cities, among them Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, were organised by Gen Z regelt, whose name translates as “Gen Z takes charge”.
The group’s agenda includes greater investment in education and opposition to compulsory military service, as many young Germans struggle with rising costs.
“We are here today to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion,” the group’s spokesperson, Lina Friedrich, said in Berlin on Saturday.
“What matters most to us is better support for the health and education systems. We are against compulsory military service and we are in favour of a fairer distribution of the burden.”
Organisers had initially anticipated 182,000 participants nationwide.
Official figures available that afternoon suggested turnout was lower.
Police in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt reported up to 18,000 protesters, half the roughly 36,000 listed on the organisers’ website.
The campaign draws on political and civil society groups of many kinds, leaving questions about its leadership and whether it is genuinely youth-led.
Germany’s national umbrella organisation for school students, BSK, has distanced itself from the campaign and plans a separate day of protest on November 20.
Organisers link their campaign to growing pressure on younger generations in Europe’s largest economy.
Germany has found it difficult to restore growth, while the retirement of baby boomers and a decline in the working-age population are adding to the burden on pensions and public services.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz was the focus of criticism from Steve, 18, who was due to speak at a rally in Munich: “The government has offered no response to our concerns other than to continue making cuts and piling further burdens upon us.”
“We will continue to exercise our fundamental right to assemble until you stop ignoring us.”
Technical University of Berlin student Sean Baker planned to highlight the poor condition of campus buildings by joining Saturday’s demonstrations.
“When you go inside and enter the rooms, it looks like an abandoned building,” he told Reuters.
“Yet this is where we’re expected to study on a regular basis.”
This year’s Generation Z-led protests elsewhere in Europe formed the backdrop to Germany’s demonstrations.
In France, protests have led to rioting and looting.
In Serbia, student-led activism helped remove the country’s long-serving leader from office through an election.
Source: Reuters
