Businesses looted in Frankfurt as protests in Germany turn violent

Thousands of people mobilized on Saturday in different cities of Germany to claim improvements in the education system, a reduction in living costs and rejecting compulsory military service.

The day ended with episodes of violence recorded in Frankfurtwhere hooded groups looted businesses and clashed with security forces.

The protests were organized by the collective Gen Z rules (“Generation Z takes the reins”) and took place in 34 cities, including Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt.

In Frankfurt, the country’s main financial center, at least two businesses were looted when some sectors of the protest turned violent. According to a witness cited by Reuters, several businesses suffered damage and the police deployed an operation to try to regain control of the situation.

Through X Local police reported that unrest continued and warned of attacks on emergency services.

“In the city center, the windows of several stores were shattered.. They also launched Molotov cocktails against the emergency services. We urge all passers-by to avoid the city center or leave the area,” he wrote on the social network.

Although the most serious incidents were concentrated in Frankfurt, The authorities indicated that the majority of the demonstrations took place peacefully.. In Hamburg, however, some barricades were burned.

The call occurred in a context of growing youth mobilization in different European countries. During this year, movements promoted by students and young people took center stage in several countries on the continent. In Serbiastudent activism contributed to political change at the polls, while in France various protests led to episodes of riots and looting.

While the movement expected to gather around 182,000 people, the data released by the police in Frankfurt, Berlin and Munich They counted up to 18,000 protesters in those citiesroughly half of the 36,000 participants in the organization’s estimates.

The Minister of the Interior of the state of Hesse, Roman Poseckexpressed concern about the possibility of a repeat of scenes similar to those recently observed in France. “We all have those images of France in our minds: looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles and attacks on police officers,” he said. “France should not serve as a model in this sense”.