Cost-of-living protests across Germany turn violent, with looting in Frankfurt

Hooded rioters looted stores and smashed windows in Frankfurt late Saturday, October 31, after tens of thousands joined cost-of-living protests organized by the group Gen Z regelt in dozens of German cities. Hesse interior minister Roman Poseck said Sunday that 17 shops were damaged, five of them looted, and that more than 100 of the 1,300 police officers deployed were injured. Police arrested 54 people aged 13 to 29. Frankfurt police said on X that Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency services, and authorities said weapons stolen from a gun store were later recovered. Violence also hit Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, where police used water cannons and tear gas after protesters fired pyrotechnics and burned barricades. The group wants more spending on education, health and climate protection and opposes any return of military conscription. German ministers threatened tough penalties for looters and rioters while praising police for preventing larger-scale violence.

CBS News, on the left, headlines the looting and stresses how largely peaceful daytime rallies, including a Berlin gathering at Brandenburg Gate, turned violent. It relies on police statements about stones, fireworks, pepper bombs, the gun-store theft and Hamburg's barricade fires, and notes that organizers' turnout claims lacked official figures. The New York Post, on the right, also leads with Frankfurt looting and quotes Frankfurt police and a Reuters witness. It adds a wider frame of Gen Z protests in Serbia and rioting in France, and stresses that police counts of up to 18,000 fell below the 182,000 organizers expected. Both agree on the violence and the group's demands; they differ in emphasis. The Hindu centers the ministers' vow of tough action, while BBC adds Europe-wide context.