Cost-of-living protests spread from France to Germany; violence erupts in Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg

Youth-led cost-of-living protests that began in France spread to Germany on Saturday, with organisers of the "Gen Z regelt" movement reporting 120,000 participants in demonstrations across Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich.

In Cologne, police deployed water cannons after some protesters set off fireworks during a march through the city centre. Hamburg riot police responded after barriers were set on fire and emergency service workers were attacked with pyrotechnics and construction materials. In Frankfurt, Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency personnel and shop windows were smashed on the Zeil shopping street; police arrested a suspect and seized two weapons after a gun shop was broken into.

Organisers had timed the day of action to coincide with Halloween to maximise turnout. Luxury shops on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm street boarded up their windows as a precaution.

The German protests follow a broader wave of unrest in France, where the Yellow Vests movement held its third act of nationwide demonstrations on the same day. France's Interior Ministry counted 320,000 protesters across the country, including 70,000 in Paris — significantly fewer than the 550,000 who demonstrated on 17 October and the 410,000 who turned out the following weekend. By 6 p.m. local time, 296 people had been detained countrywide.

France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had restricted demonstrations to areas outside town centres and deployed 70,000 extra law enforcement officers nationwide. The ministry said radical elements attempted to enter city centres in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Rennes, Lille, Nantes, Marseille and Lyon but were thwarted by police. As of 29 October, at least 1,193 police officers had been injured since the start of the protests in France.