The cost-of-living campaign that started in France has spread to Germany, with demonstrations taking place on Saturday to coincide with Halloween, with tens of thousands of people taking part across the country.
A new German youth-led movement is called “Gen Z has got this!” They protested the high cost of living, the lack of funding for schools and universities, environmental concerns and the possible reintroduction of compulsory military service. Protests occurred in major cities such as Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich.
Protests in the German capital appeared to be peaceful, but water cannons and riot police were called out in Cologne and Hamburg.
Cologne police said water cannons were used after some demonstrators set off fireworks during a march in the city centre. “Our measures are directed at troublemakers and violent individuals, not peaceful protesters,” police said in a statement.
Riot police responded to Hamburg after a fence was set on fire and emergency workers attacked. “There has been an increase in incidents of incendiary objects and construction materials being thrown at emergency personnel. Riot police are taking immediate action against this,” police said.
In Frankfurt, police said petrol bombs were thrown at emergency workers, store windows were smashed and part of the Zeil shopping street was closed. Officers arrested a suspect and seized two weapons after a gun store window was broken.
Organizers of “Gen Z Regert” planned a big day of action to coincide with Halloween to maximize participation and visibility. The group said 120,000 people took part in protests across Germany on Saturday.
“We are young people who no longer want to see decisions about their future made without them,” the movement says on its website. He added that the goal was to protest peacefully and that organizers were instructing participants not to show their faces, even if they were wearing Halloween costumes.
More police officers have been deployed across Germany in preparation for the protests, and high-end stores along Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm shopping street have boarded up their windows as a precaution.
Germany’s youth movement follows a broader wave of protests that has swept Europe, including severe unrest in France, which has been hit by rioting and looting and is currently holding another weekend of rallies.
Following protests on October 17 and 24, further nationwide protests by the yellow vest movement took place in France on Saturday, in what has been dubbed the third act of the demonstrations. Students and some labor unions are also expected to participate.
France’s interior ministry said 320,000 people protested across the country on Saturday, with 70,000 taking part in Paris. This is significantly lower than the 550,000 people who demonstrated on October 17th and the 410,000 who took part in demonstrations last week.
The ministry announced that as of 6 p.m. local time, 296 people had been detained nationwide.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez this week warned of a “very high risk of public disorder”, announcing that demonstrations would only be allowed outside town centers and that 70,000 additional law enforcement officers would be deployed across the country.
The protests were mostly peaceful, with the exception of a few incidents. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that “militants are at the back of the queue” in several cities. Cities such as Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes, Lille, Nantes, Marseille and Lyon “attempted to enter their city centers with the aim of causing damage and plundering”.
The ministry said police intervened and “thwarted” the attempt.
“Anyone who sends an ‘improvised incendiary device’ to law enforcement must be punished very severely,” Jourdan Bardera, leader of France’s far-right party National Rally, said on TV show X. “The perpetrators must rot in prison for a very long time,” he added.
Police in Rennes, in northwestern France’s Brittany region, said that while a main march scheduled for Saturday “proceeded peacefully along the planned route,” hundreds of violent people began attacking police after the protest ended, throwing projectiles and setting fires.
Violence has plagued protests in recent weeks, with the ministry announcing on Friday that at least 1,193 police officers had been injured since the protests began, as of Oct. 29.
Halloween added new complications to the protests, with Nuñez warning that “radical far-left groups and radicalized yellow vests” would call for separate rallies across France from 8pm local time.
He said some messages evoked Halloween, called for “revolution” and “riots” and incited serious public disorder, and warned against public gatherings.
The word “Purge” has been circulating on social media platforms in recent days, a reference to the dystopian film series that depicts a world where all crime is legal for 12 hours every year.
“Even on Halloween, the rules don’t change!” warned Paris police with an X, reminding people that covering your face in public is punishable by a fine of 150 euros (about $170), while possessing a weapon, even a fake one, can result in up to three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros (about $50,398).
Protests in France began in late September, led by high school students demanding improvements to aging school buildings, a shortage of teachers and resources, and changes to the university admissions system.
In pictures: French protests descend into national crisis
The protests then turned into something bigger, with the Yellow Vests forming a movement that began as a movement against soaring fuel prices among people taking to the streets.
Images of violence and looting from the October 17 protests continue to haunt French authorities. More than 550,000 people took to the streets across France that day, and the Interior Ministry said more than 3,000 stores were attacked or looted, some destroyed, and more than 2,700 people were arrested.
Asked about students injured during the protests, President Emmanuel Macron said the violence was a “collective failure”.
“I don’t think any high school student ever started pushing for demands expecting to be met with such horrific consequences, and I don’t know of any police officer who signed up to be involved in such a horrific and violent moment,” he told YouTuber Hugo Travers.
Saturday’s demonstrations come ahead of November 5, when all eyes will be on a nationwide strike and mobilization called by an inter-union coalition over the soaring cost of living.
