Riots in the evening after peaceful protests in the afternoon

The protests that day were about better education or compulsory military service; tens of thousands demonstrated peacefully. In the evening, rioters and extremists took over in some cities. They had s

Riots after peaceful protests Rioters loot shops in Frankfurt As of: November 1st, 2026 • 1:26 a.m

After a peaceful protest by tens of thousands of young people, violent scenes and riots broke out in some cities in the evening - especially in Frankfurt am Main.

The hessenschau reports that several shops in downtown Frankfurt were looted. Rioters, some of whom were masked, beat and kicked in shop windows in the evening and demolished them with signs or other objects. Sneakers and other items were stolen. A weapons shop was also attacked.

According to a police spokesman, there were "numerous arrests" in Frankfurt throughout the day and evening, but he was not yet able to give exact numbers.

Several people were also arrested after the attack on the weapons store. Officers were quickly on scene and, according to police, seized two weapons. These were from the store, said the spokesman. It was initially not known what kind of weapons were involved. The police cordoned off the Zeil, the central shopping street in downtown Frankfurt.

Riots broke out in Frankfurt after the largely peaceful Gen Z protest was broken up. more

According to the police, there had already been clashes between police officers and participants in demonstrations in Frankfurt. According to their own statements, police officers were pelted with firecrackers, stones and bottles. According to initial findings from the Interior Ministry, several officers suffered injuries. There was no information in the evening about possible injuries among the demonstrators.

"I have repeatedly pointed out that we must expect that left-wing extremist potential for violence will mix with this demonstration, and that is what happened," said the Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck in the evening. "We assume there are around 100 violent criminals motivated by left-wing extremism. They massively attacked the police by throwing bottles, stones and pyrotechnics." Who later took part in the riots in the city center is the subject of the investigation.

It is obvious that the riots in the evening had no connection with the goals of the protests in the afternoon, which, among other things, demonstrated for better education, a fairer distribution of burdens and against military service. The organizers of “Gen Z Rules” had expressly called for a protest without any violence. However, reporters from several cities reported that extremists and rioters had deliberately mixed in with the peaceful demonstrators.

ARD reporter Jakob Schaumann said in the tagesschau that the attacks in the city center had come from “a group of perpetrators who are not yet entirely sure who it actually was.” There were probably no participants from the demonstrations. The attacks were carried out by many small groups. It was therefore difficult for the police to get the situation under control.

Jakob Schaumann, HR, on the riots in Frankfurt after peaceful protests by the GenZ tagesschau, Das Erste, November 1st, 2026 • 00:30 a.m. "Nothing other than violence in mind" In Cologne there were riots around the cathedral and the main train station. According to reports from WDR, other groups outside of the Gen-Z demonstrators also moved to the southern part of the city to riot after the demo officially ended.

Cologne police chief Johannes Hermanns said it was "sad and hits me very hard that young people who wanted to demonstrate peacefully for their future were today infiltrated by extremists who had nothing other than violence in mind."

There were Gen Z demos in several NRW cities. more

According to police, 27 officers were slightly injured in riots following the youth protests in Berlin. A police spokesman said late in the evening that "numerous crimes" had occurred at a meeting with up to 3,500 participants that began at Rosenthaler Platz in Berlin-Mitte. These include damage to property, bodily harm and violations of the Weapons and Explosives Act. The actual meeting as part of “Gen Z regulates” at the Brandenburg Gate with up to 5,000 participants, however, was “almost trouble-free”.

Jörn Iffländer, a spokesman for the Berlin police, said in the evening's daily newspaper "Tagesthemen" that there had been disruptions, but "the pictures that were drawn before, of looting or massive riots, we don't have them here in this city."