Youth protests in France and Germany turn violent, with 565 arrests and Frankfurt looting

Turnout across France

Youth demonstrations against cuts in education and rising living costs filled streets across France for the third weekend in a row on 31 October. The interior ministry put nationwide turnout at 320,000, while youth union organisers spoke of nearly 500,000 participants. The largest march was in Paris, where police counted about 70,000 people. The ministry said the marches had been largely orderly, but police had to stop 'radical elements' who tried to turn several cities to vandalism and looting.

Paris (police)70,000

France (interior ministry)320,000

France (organisers, nearly)500,000

Paris (police)

70000 people

France (interior ministry)

320000 people

France (organisers, nearly)

500000 people

Data from the article text

Clashes in Paris and other French cities

After the Paris march reached its end point, masked people dressed in black pelted riot police with paving stones and a molotov cocktail, and police answered with tear gas. The interior ministry and the Paris police prefecture said around 21:00 local time that four police officers and one gendarme had been injured in Paris. By then 565 people had been arrested across the country, up from at least 290 in an earlier count. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez called the molotov cocktail thrown at a gendarme an attempted killing, and said the demonstrations had gone well despite what he called unheard-of violence from groups of rioters. He said calls had circulated for people to loot, vandalise and attack public buildings on Halloween evening, and that authorities in all cities remained watchful. BFM TV showed police using tear gas in Lyon and Marseille as well as Paris, and clashes took place in Toulouse, Rennes and Nantes. By the time of reporting, the capital was calm again.

Riots in German cities

In about thirty German cities, youth marches that began peacefully drew tens of thousands of people, with German police counting around 5,000 demonstrators in Berlin and Cologne. Tagesschau reported that rioters had deliberately mingled with the demonstrators, and the trouble escalated after the marches ended. In Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg, police were pelted with fireworks. In Frankfurt, local authorities said several officers were injured, and police used a water cannon to end the protest there.

Looting in Frankfurt

In Frankfurt, the protests then turned into shop looting, with windows smashed, shops emptied and officers attacked. Police closed the Zeil to new visitors and ordered bystanders to leave, while dpa journalists saw people push into shops and steal sports shoes and other goods. Frankfurt police said on X that they had arrested 100 people, replacing the 30 arrests they had reported around midnight. The Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that a gun shop window was smashed and two firearms were taken. A police spokesperson said the weapons had been found at the scene and one person had been arrested.

France, nationwide (interior ministry)565

Frankfurt (police, on X)100

Cologne (local authorities)5

France, nationwide (interior ministry)

565 people

Frankfurt (police, on X)

100 people

Cologne (local authorities)

5 people

Data from the article text

Cologne, The Hague and Brussels

In Cologne, rioters attacked police in the centre after the demonstration, and about 200 people were involved in disorder near the cathedral, where bottles and bicycles were thrown. Local authorities said five people had been arrested on 31 October and one person was injured. Police dispersed the crowd gathered at the cathedral to de-escalate, and smaller groups moved through the city centre into the evening. The Cologne police chief said it was sad and very regrettable that young people who wanted to demonstrate peacefully had been infiltrated by extremists. In The Hague, a protest had also been announced, and it stayed relatively quiet, although dozens of people were arrested. In Brussels, police defended the seizure of swimming goggles, ski goggles, eye serum and medical face masks at a demonstration that was not permitted but was tolerated by the city. Police said the items were legal but could have been used to cause problems for public order, and they cited article 30 of the Police Office Act. Later, a spontaneous march towards Saint-Gilles and the Midi station tried to reach the headquarters of the MR party, and a brief clash with police followed, in which pepper spray was used.