Gen Z protests in Germany: burning barricades in Hamburg, water cannon in Cologne
The nationwide day of protest turned violent in several cities on Saturday afternoon, with clashes in Hamburg, water cannon in Cologne, a rally broken up in Stuttgart and arrests in Leipzig.
Symbolic image · Photo: Leonhard Lenz / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped and resized)
A nationwide day of protest by the youth initiative “Gen Z regelt” turned violent in several German cities on Saturday afternoon. In Hamburg, demonstrators set fire to barricades built from construction materials at the end of the march on Steindamm, and a water cannon put out the flames. Bottles and flares had been thrown earlier. Police said riot units were using “direct force”. An organizers' spokeswoman put turnout at 6,000 to 7,000 at one point; organizers later claimed more than 10,000.
In Cologne, police called off a planned march because participants had covered their faces and set off pyrotechnics. Officers later deployed a water cannon; a police spokeswoman said officers had been attacked with fireworks beforehand. At least one person was detained. Police broke up a rally in Stuttgart, and police in Leipzig made the first arrests after protesters built barricades from overturned bins and rental bikes.
Turnout fell well short of the nearly 180,000 online sign-ups in many places. In the afternoon, police counted 2,700 people in Berlin, 1,800 in Munich and about 1,000 in Frankfurt. Protests took place in more than 30 cities. There were no official figures on injuries or total arrests at the time of publication.