Germany Gen Z protests turn violent; Frankfurt shops looted

As of 8:56 a.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026

Youth-led protests across Germany on Saturday over the cost of living, school funding and compulsory military service gave way to rioting and looting in several cities that night, with about 100 police officers injured in Frankfurt alone, authorities said.

The initiative "Gen Z regelt," roughly "Gen Z takes charge," said about 120,000 people took part in rallies in more than 30 cities, German public broadcaster tagesschau reported. That was well below the more than 180,000 who had signed up. Police counts were lower: about 5,000 at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, up to 8,000 in Frankfurt and about 5,000 in Munich, according to tagesschau. Authorities in those three cities reported as many as 18,000 protesters in total, the BBC reported.

The daytime marches were largely peaceful. The trouble came later.

Frankfurt: 100 officers hurt, 54 detained

Police and the Hesse state interior ministry gave a first tally Sunday: 54 people detained, 100 officers injured, one seriously, and five shops looted, tagesschau and the regional broadcaster hessenschau reported. Police also filed 87 criminal complaints, ordered 1,225 people to leave the area and checked the identity of 366, according to the tally.

Those detained were 13 to 29 years old, officials said. Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck said most were German citizens. The seriously injured officer was hit in the face by a stone, Poseck said.

Police said rioters threw fireworks and Molotov cocktails at officers, set up barricades and smashed shop windows around the city's main shopping street, the Zeil. A gun shop was also attacked. Police detained several people there and seized blank-firing pistols, tagesschau reported. Frankfurt police have asked anyone with photos or video of the violence to upload them to a police tip portal.

Who police blame

Police said two groups were involved. Operations chief Erik Hessenmüller said a smaller group turned violent near the end of the march. Police attribute the later rioting on the Zeil and elsewhere downtown to a different set of people, tagesschau reported.

Frankfurt Police President Stefan Müller said the nighttime rioters were mostly young men with migrant backgrounds, from groups that meet in the city center on weekends and are known to police. He said no political motive was apparent among them.

Poseck put the number of violent troublemakers at 1,000 to 1,500. On Saturday night, he said that "around 100 clearly identified left-wing extremists" had infiltrated the Frankfurt protest, the BBC reported. He called for jail sentences and "deterrent" punishment.

Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef took a different emphasis. "I couldn't care less what passport someone has or where their parents were born," he said, according to tagesschau. Anyone who commits violence must face the legal consequences, he said.

Berlin, Hamburg and other cities

In Berlin, the Gen Z regelt rally at the Brandenburg Gate ended peacefully. A separate evening march called "Gen Z hat genug!" ("Gen Z has had enough!"), which was not part of the initiative's program, was stopped early after people threw stones, bottles and eggs at police and set off fireworks, according to the broadcaster rbb24 and the news site t-online.

Berlin police said 27 officers were lightly injured and stayed on duty, and that up to 56 people were temporarily detained, police spokesman Jörn Iffländer said in a video posted late Saturday, n-tv reported. The Berliner Morgenpost later cited a police tally of 60 detentions.

In Hamburg, police said 12 officers were injured as groups tried to build and set fire to barricades, tagesschau reported. Public broadcaster NDR reported that 120 people were arrested there, according to the BBC. In Stuttgart, police reported five officers lightly hurt and about 50 offenses, tagesschau said, citing the broadcaster SWR. In Cologne, police ended the rally early, and Police Chief Johannes Hermanns said young people who wanted to protest peacefully "were infiltrated today by extremists who had nothing but violence in mind," the BBC reported.

Organizers distance themselves

"What happened after the end of the rallies, we had no influence over," a Gen Z regelt spokesperson said, according to tagesschau. In a statement posted on Instagram, the group distanced itself from "any form of violence" by people who were not part of the demonstrations. "Violence was and is never part of our movement," it said.

The group's demands include more money for schools, addiction services and psychotherapy, affordable living and "no to compulsory military service." It has called for actions at schools and universities this week, Nov. 2 to 6, and says it will join a Europe-wide youth strike on Nov. 20.

Political reaction

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt blamed "violence-prone left-wing groups and troublemakers from the migrant milieu," tagesschau reported, and said rioters and looters "will be identified and held accountable." He told Bild newspaper that police had prevented "violence like that seen in Paris," according to the BBC.

Federal Education Minister Karin Prien condemned the rioting but said the concerns of those who protested peacefully are "justified and extremely relevant," tagesschau reported.

The German protests came the same day as large demonstrations in France. More than 320,000 people took part there on Saturday, and the French Interior Ministry reported more than 770 arrests, the BBC said.