Protests over rising living costs took place in several major German cities on October 31st, leading to some clashes with authorities. On the same night, rioters attacked stores and looted goods in central Frankfurt, the financial capital.
There was also violence in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. Police said protesters attacked emergency workers with fireworks, rocks and bottles. He said water cannons were used to disperse the demonstrators.
Demonstrations during the day were largely peaceful and were attended by large numbers of people. The call was put out by a group called Gen Z regelt to protest underfunding of schools, soaring prices, cuts to public spending and military conscription.
These protests follow similar large-scale youth-led protests in France in recent days. Demonstrations continued in France on the 31st, with more than 320,000 people taking part.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrind told German newspaper Bild on the 1st that police had prevented "the kind of violence we have seen in Paris" during the night in recent weeks. He called for "severe punishment" for rioters and looters.
Authorities in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin said up to 18,000 people took part in Saturday's protests. This is about half the number of people announced by the organizers on their website. Local media say there were tens of thousands of protesters.
Gen Z regelt spokeswoman Lina Friedrich said the demonstrations were "fighting for peace and freedom, not war and coercion."
"Our main focus is on improving support for our health and education systems. We oppose military conscription and support more equitable burden sharing."
Image copyrightReuters
In Frankfurt, most of the main shopping streets were closed down by police overnight on the 31st. A police spokesperson said a number of people were arrested in the city.
Police in the city said special forces had been called in to report "violent violence" in the city centre. Windows of several businesses were smashed and Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency responders.
A window was broken at a gun store, authorities said. Two firearms were reportedly confiscated from the detained suspect. Other stores were also broken into, with sneakers and other items stolen.
Roman Pozek, the interior minister of Hesse, where Frankfurt is located, said "about 100 people clearly identified as left-wing extremists" had taken part in the protests and called the end of the protests "shameful".
"We all remember the scenes in France of looting, burning houses, torching police cars, attacking police officers... We should not make France an example of this."
According to police, the situation in the city calmed down from midnight on the 31st to the 1st.
Police in Cologne said a police officer was attacked near the city's main train station. Bottles and bicycles were reportedly thrown at them.
Johannes Hermans, the head of the police, said: ``It is extremely sad that extremists who only have violence in mind have mixed in with the young people who were trying to demonstrate peacefully for their future.''
In Berlin, large protests during the day were followed by smaller demonstrations at night. Police said 27 officers were injured. Up to 56 demonstrators were reportedly temporarily detained.
In Hamburg, people dressed in black set off fireworks and set barricades on fire. According to public broadcaster NDR, 120 people were arrested.
Protest demonstrations across Europe
On the 31st, there were large-scale demonstrations across Europe.
For the third weekend in a row, protests took place in cities across France demanding action on the rising cost of living and the poor quality of public services, including education.
Large numbers of police officers were deployed across the country. The protests were largely peaceful, but police fired tear gas at demonstrators in some cities.
According to the French Interior Ministry, more than 770 people were arrested during the demonstrations on the 31st, about half the number from the previous week.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said one police officer was injured by a petrol bomb. Prosecutors opened an investigation as an attempted murder case.
Paris police said hundreds of rioters threw objects at security forces.
The Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) movement, which organizes protests in France, says dozens of protesters have been seriously injured in recent demonstrations across the country, many of them from grenades.
In early October, France stopped using the same type of grenade to quell student protests after a 15-year-old boy's hand was blown off by a grenade. In subsequent protests, police continued to use other types of grenades, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
There were also protests in Italy. Police and demonstrators clashed in Rome and Turin.
Thousands of people marched in Portugal to protest against rising rent prices. A tent village was later set up, but police removed it. Protesters say the price increases threaten to worsen the country's housing crisis. Home prices in the country have more than doubled in the past decade.
Protests led by young people have recently taken place in many other European countries, including Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Serbia, and Albania.
Protesters' demands vary from country to country, but generally they are complaining of worsening living conditions due to housing shortages, declining quality of education, and cuts to public services.
(English article Shops looted as German cost-of-living protests turn violent)
