The usual suspects: a coalition of leftist organizations is behind the violent riots spreading across Germany. Pictured: shop windows secured ahead of protests in Düsseldorf. Photo: Kürschner, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Youth protests organized by Gen Z regelt (Gen Z’s Got This) took place in 34 German cities on Oct. 31. Looting, arson, and attacks on police followed demonstrations in Frankfurt and Hamburg. Violence also erupted during a separate evening march in Berlin and in Cologne, where police said the rioters had no connection to Gen Z demonstrators.

The day before, Hamburg’s domestic intelligence agency named the groups mobilizing for the city’s demonstration, including communist, antifa, and Hamas-supporting organizations.

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told Bild, Germany’s largest-circulation daily, that violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from migrant communities had hijacked the peaceful afternoon demonstrations.

Gen Z regelt reported 120,000 participants nationwide, though police estimates were lower. By early afternoon, police had counted 2,700 in Berlin, 1,800 in Munich, and about 1,000 in Frankfurt. The protests focused on living costs, underfunded schools, environmental issues, and a possible return to mandatory military service. Germany’s national umbrella organization for school students, the Bundesschülerkonferenz (Federal Student Conference, BSK), distanced itself from the initiative and plans a separate day of protests on Nov. 20.

The organizers have remained largely anonymous. The German outlet NIUS reported that Gen Z regelt directly organized demonstrations in only five of its 32 announced cities: Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Munich. The website’s legal imprint names Akram Selo as the sole responsible person and lists rented business addresses.

The group’s GoFundMe profile is private. According to NIUS, it remains unclear who manages the donations, how the money has been spent, or whether Selo exists. In Berlin, Gen Z regelt and the Neukölln youth organization of Die Linke (The Left Party) co-hosted a preparatory meeting in mid-October.

German intelligence agencies warned of extremist involvement before the protests. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency, told Handelsblatt, a German business daily, that parts of the left-wing extremist scene and some extremist groups with foreign ties had taken up Gen Z regelt’s calls to protest.

On Oct. 30, the Hamburg Office for the Protection of the Constitution (LfV), the city-state’s domestic intelligence agency, issued a public notice about the Hamburg march, held under the slogan “Against Conscription – GenZ regelt!” It identified three left-wing extremist groups mobilizing for the event: Offen Antifaschistische Treffen Hamburg (Open Antifascist Meeting Hamburg, OAT040), Roter Aufbau (Red Buildup), and Interventionistische Linke (Interventionist Left). It also named two extremist groups with foreign ties: Young Struggle and Thawra (Arabic for “revolution”).

According to the notice, these groups shared the protest call and expressed solidarity with events in France, referring to both peaceful demonstrations and violent clashes. The LfV said left-wing extremists exploit legitimate public debates to promote their ideology and recruit followers.

German security authorities had previously identified extremist activity involving four of the five groups. In its 2024 annual report, the Hamburg LfV described Roter Aufbau as violence-oriented, stating that it regards Hamas as a “freedom movement” and legitimizes its violence.

The LfV designated Thawra Hamburg a confirmed extremist organization that same year. When Thawra sued to halt the surveillance, the Hamburg Administrative Court cited its support for military actions by Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel. Thawra withdrew its suit in March 2026.

The Bremen state government has described the Interventionist Left as part of the violence-oriented extremist scene, with the declared goal of uniting extremists who endorse violence with nonviolent activists.

The Lower Saxony intelligence agency identifies Young Struggle as the youth organization of the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party (MLKP), a Turkish group that calls for the destruction of the Turkish state. The agency also reports that Young Struggle seeks ties with German leftist and migrant groups.

In Hamburg, police counted up to 6,700 demonstrators. Rioters erected burning barricades and attacked officers with stones, bottles, and fireworks. Police surrounded and contained about 120 rioters at Hansaplatz.

In Berlin, violence broke out during a separate evening march that was not part of the Gen Z regelt protests. Titled “Gen Z hat genug!” (Gen Z Has Had Enough!), it was called by Offenes Rotes Treffen Berlin (Open Red Meeting Berlin, ORT). Marchers carried flags of ORT, Young Struggle, and the Sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterjugend (Socialist German Workers’ Youth, SDAJ). The front banner declared that young people fight internationally against patriarchy, fascism, capital, and war.

Communist youth groups led the march. Police described its organizer as left-wing and reported pro-Palestinian participants. Berlin’s “Demo-Ticker” listing categorized it under antifascism, antimilitarism, anti-Zionism, and anti-repression. Police estimated about 3,500 participants, reported 56 arrests, and said 27 officers sustained minor injuries.

Frankfurt recorded the most police injuries, with more than 100 officers hurt, one seriously. According to the Hessian Interior Ministry, 1,300 officers were deployed overnight. Police checked 366 people, issued 1,225 dispersal orders, and arrested 54 people aged 13 to 29.

Hessian Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) said most of those arrested were German citizens from a “migrant milieu.” He said police faced 1,000 to 1,500 violent troublemakers, predominantly from that background, and cited links to pro-Palestinian groups.

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Rioters stole sneakers and other goods from stores and plundered a gun shop. Police said Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency personnel. After the gun shop break-in, officers arrested a suspect and seized two weapons.

In Cologne, police reported 23 officers injured as groups of youths and young men rioted in the city center and other districts from midnight onward. Based on their findings so far, police said the groups had no connection to participants in the Gen Z demonstration.

Dobrindt said rioters and looters would be identified and held accountable. Andreas Roßkopf of the Gewerkschaft der Polizei (Police Union, GdP) said preliminary findings indicated that most perpetrators, particularly those involved in looting and property damage, were left-wing extremists or came from migrant groups.

Gen Z regelt plans to join the next round of protests on Nov. 20.