Germany: Far-left groups and rioters hijack Gen Z protests, turn them into night of violence and looting
AfD Co-Chair Alice Weidel attributed the riots to years of CDU policies that have encouraged left-wing extremism and uncontrolled immigration without consequences.
About 120,000 young people demonstrated on Saturday in more than 30 German cities under the slogan "Gen Z regelt" ("Gen Z Takes Charge!"). Their demands included more investment in schools, measures to combat the rising cost of living, opposition to a possible reinstatement of military service and greater climate ambition.
The daytime marches proceeded, for the most part, peacefully. As night fell, the situation changed completely. In Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin and Hamburg, hooded groups provoked disturbances, threw objects at the police, erected barricades and looted stores. In Frankfurt, there were reports of looting of stores and attacks with Molotov cocktails and firecrackers; in Berlin, more than 25 officers were injured and dozens of people were arrested.
Dobrindt points to radical left and immigrant community
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) was blunt: "Left-wing groups prone to violence and troublemakers from immigrant backgrounds hijacked the peaceful demonstrations that afternoon."
The minister added that excesses like those in Paris had been avoided thanks to a robust police deployment, and that those responsible would be identified and severely punished.
Alice Weidel, co-chair of the right-wing, sovereignist party Alternative for Germany (AfD), stated on X that the riots are the result of "a CDU policy that has courted and promoted left-wing extremism for years, coupled with uncontrolled migration, in which perpetrators have no consequences to fear whatsoever."
Lukewarm response from German left
The "Gen Z regelt" initiative itself immediately distanced itself from the events. Its organizers insisted they had no control over what happened after the rallies officially ended and rejected any form of violence.
The reactions from left-wing parties were, at best, lukewarm. Ines Schwerdtner, chair of Die Linke, condemned the acts of vandalism but immediately shifted her focus to the protesters' demands, as if the violence were a minor detail that should not distract from the "true" message.
"Neither the crisis in purchasing power, nor social dismantling, nor the widely shared desire to demonstrate peacefully will disappear simply because small groups of frustrated people have subsequently committed acts of vandalism," he told the newspaper Rheinische Post.
Franziska Brantner, of the Greens, acknowledged that the clashes were damaging the peaceful cause, but the emphasis once again fell on the need for the government to "listen" to young people.
Same script as in France
It's the same scenario seen in France in recent weeks, where "black bloc" tactics and far-left elements have escalated protests against the cost of living into looting and arson, while groups such as La France Insoumise (LFI) fuel a climate of institutional confrontation.
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