Rioters looted shops in central Frankfurt late on Saturday as clashes erupted in German cities over the cost of living. Besides Frankfurt – Germany’s financial hub – there were incidents of violence in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, with police saying they used water cannons to disperse protesters targeting emergency workers with fireworks, stones and bottles.

Protesters demand education and public spending reforms

Thousands joined largely peaceful demonstrations earlier in the day. They were organised by the campaign group Gen Z regelt – meaning “Gen Z takes charge” – to protest against underfunding in schools, the high cost of living, public spending cuts and military service.

Similar protests in France and other European countries

The unrest in Germany follows similar youth-led mass protests in France, where more than 320,000 people also demonstrated on Saturday. On Sunday, Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild newspaper that overnight police had prevented “violence like that seen in Paris” in recent weeks and called for “harsh punishments” for rioters and looters.

Overnight, a large section of Frankfurt’s main shopping street was closed off by police. A police spokesperson said many arrests were made in the city. Authorities in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin reported as many as 18,000 protesters, roughly half of what the organisers had estimated on their website. German media say tens of thousands protested in German cities on Saturday.

Protesters reject military service and demand better support

Gen Z regelt spokesperson Lina Friedrich said the demonstrations were “to fight for peace and freedom, rather than for war and coercion.” She said: “What matters most to us is better support for the health and education systems. We are against compulsory military service and we are in favour of a fairer distribution of the burden.”

On Saturday night Frankfurt police said “violent riots” were occurring in the city centre and that special police units had been deployed. The windows of several shops had been smashed and molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency services, police said. Officials said the windows of a gun shop were smashed and that they had seized two weapons after arresting a suspect. People also broke into other shops, stealing trainers and other items.

Roman Poseck, interior minister of Hesse state, of which Frankfurt is the biggest city, said that “around 100 clearly identified left-wing extremists” had infiltrated the protest in the city. He added that it was “shameful” how the protests had ended. Poseck said: “We all have those images from France in our minds – looting, burning houses, burning police vehicles, and attacks on police officers… France must not be held up as a model in this regard.”

Police said the situation calmed down overnight into Sunday in the city. Similar instances took place in other German cities, following earlier largely peaceful demonstrations. In Cologne, police said officers were attacked near the main train station, with bottles thrown and a bicycle launched. Cologne’s police chief Johannes Hermanns said it was “deeply saddening that young people who wanted to peacefully demonstrate for their future were infiltrated today by extremists who had nothing but violence in mind.”

A smaller demonstration in the evening in Berlin – following larger protests in the day – resulted in 27 police officers being injured, and up to 56 people temporarily detained, Berlin police said. In Hamburg, people dressed in black set off fireworks and set barricades on fire, with public broadcaster NDR reporting that 120 people were arrested.