German public officials on Sunday sharply condemned the violence that erupted Saturday evening and continued overnight on the sidelines of demonstrations organized by the GenZ regelt ("Gen Z takes charge") collective. More than 100 police officers were injured, one of them seriously.
Senior German political figures blamed the far left for the unrest, noting that many of those involved in the overnight riots were immigrants or the children of immigrants.
Stores smashed, Molotov cocktails thrown at police: A night of looting and violence in Frankfurt
Gallery
Fires set in the streets of Hamburg during Saturday night's riots. Demonstrations were held in dozens of cities
(Photo: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)
A smashed store window. Rioters threw rocks and Molotov cocktails
(Photo: AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Frankfurt on Sunday morning
(Photo: AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The shattered display window of a carpet dealer's store in Frankfurt on Sunday
(Photo: AP Photo/Michael Probst)
Some 120,000 people participated in demonstrations Saturday in dozens of cities across Germany, protesting underfunded schools, the soaring cost of living, the possibility of reinstating mandatory military service and climate change. The vast majority of the demonstrations were peaceful, but several descended into violent clashes during the evening.
In Frankfurt, between 1,000 and 1,500 people clashed with police. Masked rioters vandalized 17 stores in the the city's financial center and looted five of them. They smashed windows and threw Molotov cocktails at police and emergency responders.
Roman Poseck, interior minister of the German state of Hesse, where Frankfurt is located, said 54 people ages 13 to 29 were detained or arrested in the city. More than 100 police officers were injured, including one who lost teeth and was seriously hurt when a rock struck him in the face.
Poseck noted that most of those involved in the overnight riots were German citizens but added that, according to police, many had migrant backgrounds.
"I am shocked by what I have seen, and there is no point in sugarcoating reality," Poseck said. "Let me make this absolutely clear: Things cannot go on like this."
Violence also erupted in other German cities, including Cologne and Hamburg. In Berlin, authorities reported "numerous offenses" that led to 56 arrests, while 27 police officers sustained minor injuries.
Demonstrators light flares and carry Palestinian flags during a protest in Hamburg on Saturday night
(Photo: REUTERS/Jonas Walzberg)
Police officers stand near a fire set in a street in Hamburg
(Photo: REUTERS/Jonas Walzberg)
Rioters throw rocks at police in Hamburg on Saturday night
(Photo: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)
The overnight violence drew condemnation Sunday from political figures across Germany.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, a member of the center-right Christian Social Union (CSU), told the German tabloid Bild that that Germany had largely succeeded in preventing riots on the scale of those seen in Paris two weeks earlier.
He accused "violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from migrant communities" of having "hijacked the peaceful afternoon demonstrations" and called for "severe penalties" for those responsible for the looting and vandalism.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party also blamed the overnight riots on "left-wing extremism" and "uncontrolled immigration."
Senior figures in the Green Party and the radical left, however, urged authorities not to allow the overnight violence to overshadow what they described as the legitimate demands of the youth movement.
"Neither the affordability crisis, nor cuts to social programs, nor the widespread desire to protest peacefully will disappear simply because small groups of frustrated people subsequently engaged in rioting," Ines Schwerdtner, co-chair of the left-wing Die Linke (The Left) party, told the Rheinische Post newspaper.
Franziska Brantner, co-chair of Germany's Green Party, condemned the riots, saying the violence "undermines the legitimate cause of the many people who protested peacefully," while urging the government to respond to the young demonstrators' "unmistakable" message.
Unicorn costumes and Palestinian flags at Saturday night's main demonstration in Cologne
(Photo: REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen)
Figures on the left urged the government to heed the protesters' 'crystal-clear' message. Police restrain a rioter in Hamburg on Saturday night
(Photo: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)
A demonstration in Berlin
(Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang)
Police arrest a rioter in Hamburg
(Photo: REUTERS/Jonas Walzberg)
Red flags and Gen Z messages at a demonstration in Berlin on Saturday night
(Photo: REUTERS/Christian Mang)
The GenZ regelt collective, which organized the protests, also issued a statement on Instagram saying it "explicitly distances itself from all forms of violence."
Late Sunday morning, the organization posted a call on its website for renewed demonstrations on November 14, but deleted the announcement several hours later.
Saturday's protests in Germany coincided with another day of demonstrations in France, following a month of protests in Paris and dozens of other French cities that frequently escalated into serious clashes, leaving people injured and thousands arrested.
Although isolated clashes were also reported in France on Saturday, the violence was generally far less severe than that seen two Saturdays earlier, when rioters set fire to the city hall in Limoges and looted more than 2,000 stores.
As of Saturday night, French police had arrested 779 people during the day's demonstrations, compared with 2,628 on October 17 and 1,314 the previous weekend.
Police in Paris and Marseille reported attacks on several stores, but no major damage was reported.