Germany's youth protests turn violent as Frankfurt shops are looted

Youth-led protests against spending cuts and compulsory military service turned violent in several German cities late on Saturday, with shops looted in Frankfurt and molotov cocktails thrown at emergency services, according to police and reports by Reuters and AFP.

The demonstrations, organised by a group calling itself "Gen Z regelt" ("Gen Z takes charge"), took place in 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, Reuters reported. They were largely peaceful during the day, German authorities said, but clashes broke out after dark in Frankfurt and, according to the BBC as cited by Business Today, in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg.

What happened

"Violent disturbances are continuing," Frankfurt police said on X on Saturday night. "In the city centre, windows have been smashed at several shops. Molotov cocktails are also being thrown at the emergency services."

A Reuters witness saw at least two stores looted in Frankfurt and several more damaged. Police used water cannon against protesters who threw fireworks, stones and bottles at emergency workers, and closed a large part of the city's main shopping street, Business Today reported. A police spokesperson told AFP that "many arrests" had been made, without giving a number. In a later update, Frankfurt police said the windows of a gun shop had been smashed and two weapons seized after a suspect was arrested.

In Hamburg some barricades were set on fire, Reuters reported. Luxury shops on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm boarded up their windows and closed early. No figures for injuries had been given.

How many took part

The numbers are disputed. Organisers had initially expected 182,000 people, Reuters reported, while their website later put turnout at about 36,000. Police counted up to 18,000 in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin on Saturday afternoon.

What the protesters want

The protesters object to underfunded schools, cuts to education, social services, culture and health care, rising living costs and plans for compulsory military service. "We are here today to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion," a spokesperson for the organisers, Lina Friedrich, said in Berlin, according to Reuters. She said better support for health and education mattered most to the group.

Questions have been raised about whether the movement is really youth-led, Reuters reported. Germany's national school students' body, the BSK, has distanced itself from it and plans its own protest day on 20 November.

What officials said

Roman Poseck, the interior minister of the state of Hesse, which includes Frankfurt, said about 100 "clearly identified left-wing extremists" had infiltrated the protest there and called the way it ended "shameful", according to Reuters and Business Today. He warned against treating France "as a model", referring to recent rioting there.

Germany's federal interior ministry said parts of the far-left scene and groups linked to foreign extremist movements had joined efforts to mobilise support, Reuters reported. No statement from Chancellor Friedrich Merz had been reported by Sunday night.

Background

Saturday's protests follow a wave of youth-led demonstrations across Europe this year. In France, more than 320,000 people took part in youth-led protests on Saturday, Business Today reported, and earlier protests there turned into rioting and looting. In Serbia, student-led activism helped unseat the country's long-time leader at the ballot box, according to Reuters.

Germany, Europe's largest economy and India's biggest trading partner in the European Union, has struggled to revive growth, and its pensions and public services are under pressure as its population ages, Reuters noted.