Cost of living protests to spread to Germany and reignite in France on Halloween
Street protests over cost of living and public services are expected to spread to Germany and reignite in France on Halloween, with authorities mobilizing large police forces to prevent potential violence.
Weeks of demonstrations across Europe have already rocked Italy, Spain, Portugal, Albania and France, with activists calling for action against the cost of living crisis and deficient public services. In Germany, a loose coalition of groups under the banner 'Gen Z regelt' (Gen Z is sorting it) has mobilized supporters in over 30 cities, demanding increased spending on schools, climate protection and housing, while opposing plans to reintroduce mandatory military service.
Berlin's police chief, Barbara Slowik Meisel, announced the deployment of an additional 1,500 officers in the capital, though she stated there was 'no concrete evidence of any coordinated looting operations being planned.' About 10,000 protesters, primarily pupils, students and their parents, are expected at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Saturday afternoon, with smaller gatherings planned in the early evening in the Mitte district.
Political tensions rise
Alexander Throm of the ruling conservative CDU parliamentary group wrote in Handelsblatt: 'Scenes like those in France must be prevented at all costs.' However, Felix Banaszak, co-leader of the opposition Green party, warned against preemptively criminalizing the protests.
The [CDU's] rhetoric, which seeks to criminalise these protests pre-emptively and paint them as the work of marauding gangs, may even drive people towards radicalisation.
French security measures
In France, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez designated Saturday as 'a very high risk' day, announcing the deployment of 70,000 police and gendarmes, including elite units. He reported that radical groups had called for violent Halloween gatherings on social media, with the greatest threat expected after mainstream demonstrations conclude.
Nuñez mentioned seeing 'many calls from the labour movement, the radicalised far left and certain radicalised gilets jaunes' urging people to attend rallies starting at 8pm across France. Authorities have vowed to 'tolerate zero excesses' and promised an 'extremely firm' security response, reinforcing measures to protect shops while mostly banning demonstrations in city centers.
Organized response
The Gen Z regelt team has urged participants through social media and their website to exercise restraint, stating: 'Our protest is peaceful, without exception. Violence goes against everything we stand for.' By Friday, over 160,000 people had registered on their website indicating they planned to attend.
Germany's federal pupils' conference has distanced itself from Saturday's demonstrations, citing the initiative's 'unclear' organizational structure. It plans a separate protest in Berlin on November 20 that will include teachers and other youth movements concerned about declining school performance.
In France, two separate marches planned by unions and gilets jaunes through Paris have been banned, with police authorizing only a single march in the far south-east. Both organizers are challenging this decision, while the government reported that 410,000 people marched last Saturday when police largely prevented a repeat of earlier violence.
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