Youth-Led Protests Across Europe Descend into Violence as Authorities Vow Tough Action

Paris: Peaceful, largely youth-led demonstrations across several European countries ended in street violence over the weekend, prompting French authorities to open an attempted murder investigation and Germany’s interior minister to demand severe penalties for those responsible. Unrest was reported in France, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal and Albania.

In Portugal, police, some accompanied by dogs, used baton charges to dismantle protest encampments, while in Switzerland security personnel came under attack from demonstrators hurling paving stones.

A wave of protests has swept several countries this autumn, driven by anger over education systems, worsening public services, diminishing opportunities for young people, unaffordable housing and the rising cost of living.

In France, an estimated 320,000 people, some dressed in Halloween costumes, joined demonstrations on Saturday. As the marches drew to a close, violence broke out in Paris, Marseille, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse when masked and hooded groups arrived. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the violence as “extraordinary.” More than 770 people were taken into custody.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said incendiary devices had been thrown at a group of around 15 gendarmes and police officers, and that a formal inquiry had been launched into the attempted murder of persons holding public authority. Reported injuries included second-degree burns, in an incident filmed on a mobile phone, circulated widely on social media and aired on French television.

Nevertheless, the scale of the violence and looting was considerably smaller than on 17 October, when 2,600 people were arrested and up to 3,000 shops were ransacked in one of the most serious episodes of urban disorder in France’s recent history.

In Germany, rioters and looters rampaged through Frankfurt, the country’s financial centre, damaging businesses and injuring more than 100 police officers. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt pledged that those responsible would be identified and brought to justice, blaming violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from migrant communities, and calling for harsh punishment.

Speaking to Bild, Dobrindt said that a strong police presence at multiple locations had proved effective, crediting officers with preventing violence on the scale witnessed in Paris.

More than 100,000 demonstrators marched in over 30 German cities on Saturday, calling for improved education and lower living costs, in protests organised by the “Gen Z regelt” (“Gen Z will sort it”) campaign.

According to Roman Poseck, interior minister of the state of Hesse, hooded rioters damaged 17 shops in Frankfurt, looted five of them and threw projectiles including petrol bombs. Of the 1,300 officers deployed in the city, more than 100 were injured, and 54 suspects aged between 13 and 29 were arrested. Poseck said he was shocked by the scenes, adding bluntly that the situation could not be allowed to continue.