Berlin police see no rise in calls for school blockades

Berlin police say they have no indication that calls for blockades or protests at schools are increasing, a police spokesperson told the German Press Agency dpa. Police are monitoring student protests in France and Italy and assessing what impact they could have on demonstrations in the German capital, the spokesperson said.

The same applies to Oct. 31, when the initiative "Gen Z steht auf" (Gen Z Rises Up) has called for protests in several German cities, demanding among other things better education, affordable living and no return of conscription. Police are preparing for a large-scale operation, as Halloween night regularly requires intervention. They are also watching for attempts to exploit the protests for other aims. The GdP police union warned they could be hijacked by "radical or even extremist forces."

The backdrop is an operation on Oct. 16 outside a high school in the Friedrichshain district, where police noticed a group of about 50 people on the fringes of a demonstration who did not belong to the school. The student protest itself was peaceful, but scuffles with officers broke out in the other group and a local resident was injured. Police said the findings are feeding into their ongoing assessment. They also offer information sessions for students on the right to protest.