Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Youth protests in Germany turned violent on Saturday night as thousands took to the streets to protest the high cost of living, public spending cuts and military conscription, echoing the unrest that swept France two weeks ago.
Around 100,000 people took part in the protests in Berlin and around 30 other cities, according to event organizers.
Berlin police said protesters blocked trams, threw fireworks and bottles at officers and spray-painted buildings; 56 people were arrested.
Protests in Frankfurt and Hamburg were stopped by police after similar violence broke out. Rioters looted stores and attacked police officers, according to local reports.
Videos posted on social media showed masked individuals breaking into stores in the German financial center of Frankfurt am Main. Boris Rhein, Prime Minister of the Land of Hesse, said he was “shocked by the acts of extreme violence… incidents which will not remain without consequences”.
Speaking at a protest outside the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Saturday evening, Lina Friedrich, a spokeswoman for one of the organizing groups, called Generation Z Rules (Generation Z Solves the Problem) said: “We are against violence and advocate for peaceful protests. »
Sophie S, a 23-year-old student participating in the Brandenburg Gate protest, said: “If no one listens to us, I don’t understand why the protests shouldn’t also become violent. »
Protesters demanded more funding for education, a demand they have in common with protests at French high schools.
They also oppose plans to revive Germany’s long-standing military conscription policy. Berlin has started increasing the number of military medical checks ahead of a nationwide rollout in July 2027 targeting young men born in 2008 or later.
Nikolaus M, 43, says he is concerned about developments in the country: “Young people are less (well) paid, more stressed and are now pushed to go to war.”
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned before the protests that law enforcement was ready to counter anything that “violent extremists are ready to take to the streets.”
In France, 320,000 people demonstrated on Saturday according to the Interior Ministry, but a strong police presence largely prevented a repeat of the widespread violence and looting that shocked the nation on October 17.
Some 70,000 police and gendarmes were deployed and only 779 people arrested, compared to 1,435 last month.
Authorities and law enforcement remained on alert throughout the night, fearing that Halloween celebrations could serve as a cover for further chaos. There were some clashes between rioters and police, but on a limited scale.
“Radical elements” eager to loot and destroy tried to break away from demonstrations in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon and Marseille, but security forces prevented them, the Interior Ministry said.
“Today was a high-risk day,” Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez wrote on Saturday evening on X. “Elaborate, robust and agile security measures allowed authorized demonstrations to continue. »
Gn world
