Germany: Tens of thousands take part in youth protests – riots in several cities

Following a peaceful protest by tens of thousands of young people, riots have broken out in several German cities. Reports from Frankfurt indicate that police officers have been injured, whilst in Berlin bottles and firecrackers were thrown, and in Hamburg barricades were set alight. Water cannons were deployed in several cities.

Some protesters set off fireworks or wore masks, for example in Cologne. A march was banned there, but a rally was still allowed to go ahead. Across the country, tens of thousands of people had gathered for the protests, most of them peacefully. The "Future Generation" (Gen Z regelt) initiative put the number of participants at 120,000. The original estimate had been 160,000.

Roßkopf, the chair of the Federal Police section of the police union, told the Newspaper *Rheinische Post*, that the The "Future Generation" (Gen Z) protests had turned out to be peaceful. However, once the main events had ended, the situation had escalated in some cities. The groups responsible for the violence were described as “autonomous and, in some cases, masked individuals”.

Initiative calls for social justice and more funding for schools

“Gen Z regelt” is calling for more funding for schools, measures to tackle the rising cost of living, social justice and greater climate protection. The initiative rejects compulsory military service. It sees itself as an independent, non-partisan and loose alliance of young people who are campaigning “for our youth and for our future”, according to a statement. One of the initiative’s spokeswomen, Dinter, told "Deutschlandfunk" ahead of the protest that The "Future Generation" (Generation Z") felt their future was being disregarded and that politicians were not listening to them.