Germany became the newest stage for cost-of-living demonstrations on Saturday, as tens of thousands marched on Halloween after weeks of unrest in France, CNN reported.
Rallies by the youth-led movement "Gen Z has got this!" targeted high prices, underfunded education, environmental concerns and a possible return of mandatory military service in cities from Berlin to Munich. Berlin stayed peaceful, but Cologne and Hamburg saw water cannons and riot police.
Cologne police used water cannons after fireworks were set off. "Our measures are directed against troublemakers and violent individuals – not against peaceful participants," the police said in a statement.
In Hamburg, police stepped in after barriers were burned and emergency workers were attacked. "There has been an increase in incidents of emergency personnel being pelted with pyrotechnics and construction (materials) … our riot police are taking immediate action against this," the police said.
Frankfurt police reported Molotov cocktails thrown at emergency personnel and smashed shop windows, shutting part of the Zeil shopping street. A suspect was arrested and two weapons were seized at a gun shop.
The group behind the 'Gen Z regelt' protests timed them to occur on Halloween to increase visibility; it says 120,000 people took part nationwide.
"We are young people who no longer want to watch decisions being made about our future without us," the movement says on its website, adding that organizers urge peaceful protest and visible faces, even when wearing costumes.
Berlin's luxury shops along the Kurfürstendamm covered their windows, and extra police were deployed nationwide.
France, meanwhile, faces another weekend of rallies after weeks of rioting and looting. The Yellow Vests held a third day of nationwide protests, joined by students and some unions.
The Interior Ministry put turnout at 320,000, including 70,000 in Paris, down from 550,000 on October 17 and 410,000 a week earlier. It said 296 people had been detained by 6 p.m.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a "very high risk of public disorder," and said demonstrations would be allowed only outside town centers, with 70,000 extra officers deployed.
The ministry said "radical elements at the tail end of the processions" in several cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux, "attempted to enter city centers with the intent to cause damage and engage in looting," adding that police "thwarted" those attempts.
Jordan Bardella of the National Rally said on X that "anyone who sends an 'improvised incendiary device' to law enforcement must be very severely punished," adding that "perpetrators must rot in prison for very long years."
In Rennes, police said the main march "proceeded calmly along the planned route," before several hundred violent individuals attacked officers after it ended.
The ministry said at least 1,193 police officers have been injured since the protests began, as of October 29.
Nuñez also warned of Halloween gatherings from 8 p.m. "by radical far-left groups and radicalized Yellow Vests." He said some messages tied Halloween to calls for "revolution" and "insurrection," which he called incitements to disorder, adding the gatherings would be banned.
Social media has also circulated the word "purge" – a reference to a dystopian film franchise in which crime is legal for 12 hours a year.
"On Halloween, the rules remain the same!" the Paris police warned on X, noting that hiding one's face carries a €150 ($170) fine, and carrying a weapon, even a fake one, can mean up to three years in prison and a €45,000 ($50,398) fine.
The French protests began in late September, led by high school students demanding better school buildings, more teachers and resources, and changes to university admissions, before the Yellow Vests, who emerged over soaring fuel prices, joined in.
Officials are still haunted by October 17, when more than 550,000 people marched, over 3,000 shops were attacked or looted and over 2,700 people were arrested, according to the Interior Ministry.
President Emmanuel Macron called the violence a "collective failure." "I think no high school student started pushing for their demands expecting to suffer such terrible consequences. And I don't know a single police officer who signed up to find themselves caught up in such terrible and violent moments either," he told YouTuber Hugo Travers.
Saturday's demonstration precedes a nationwide strike on November 5 over rising living costs, CNN noted.
