Halloween and Gen Z protests: Berlin police plan major operation with 1,500 officers

Berlin police are preparing for a major operation on Saturday, Oct. 31, with around 1,500 officers, supported by the federal police. Thirteen gatherings are registered in the capital, four of them related to Halloween. The initiative "Gen Z regelt" has registered a rally at the Brandenburg Gate at 2 p.m. with 10,000 participants expected, as well as a march from Rosenthaler Platz in the Mitte district starting at 5:30 p.m. with 200 people. Police also expect spontaneous gatherings.

The operation is set to last late into the night. Focal points include places with past incidents, for example involving fireworks: the High-Deck housing estate and Gropiusstadt in Neukölln, Pallasstrasse in Schöneberg and parts of Moabit. Police say there are no concrete indications of planned looting. Police President Barbara Slowik Meisel said of calls seeking to tie in with the protests in France: "At the moment, however, we see no mobilization resulting from these calls."

Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) stressed: "Freedom of assembly is a high value, and we will protect this high value." In the event of violent excesses, she said: "Then the police have my full support." The initiative itself raises questions: the legal notice on its website was changed twice within a week, most recently listing a Swiss address. Peace and conflict researcher Jannis Julien Grimm of Free University of Berlin considers riots like those in France unlikely.