Protests under way in Germany and France as minister warns against use of Halloween masks – Europe live | Europe
Key events
France interior ministry says 15,000 people taking part in protests
The French interior ministry said about 15,000 people were taking part in demonstrations across the country, adding that the situation remained “generally calm”.
The protests were unfolding “without any notable incidents”, the ministry added.
Police had made 27 arrests by 2pm local time, AFP reported.
So far, police in Germany have reported 2,700 protesters in Berlin, with 1,800 people participating in Munich, and about 1,000 in Frankfurt. Police in Cologne have not provided figures but said it was “significantly” lower than the 15,000 registered by organisers, according to the German newspaper Die Welt.
Demonstrations have also begun across Germany, with marches taking place in Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Dresden, among other cities:
Protesters begin marching in French cities
Protesters in Paris have begun marching from Porte de Bagnolet, with demonstrations also taking place in Lille and Lyon.
French student unions call for school and university blockade
Crowds of people have gathered in Paris for the protests, where two French student unions have called for a blockade of schools and universities on Tuesday and Thursday.
“We will block access… and then take part in the demonstration this 5 November, in response to the call from workers who are calling for a strike,” Sabrine Kharbach, the spokesperson for the Union Etudiante (Student Union), told protesters, according to Le Monde.
“If they want to ban demonstrations every week, if they want to ban the marches that have always taken place peacefully, we will show them that they are wrong.”
Manon Moret, general secretary of the National Union of Students of France (UNEF), added: “So far, the government has still not provided a concrete response to the demands of young people.”
Protesters have gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. German police said an additional 1,500 officers will be deployed throughout the city.
French minister warns protesters against using Halloween costumes to hide identities
The demonstrations coincide with Halloween, but France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has warned protesters that covering their faces with costumes for malicious intent could result in a fine of €150.
“Using Halloween as an excuse will not be a legitimate reason to cover one’s face in public spaces,” he said.
The route for the demonstration in Paris is restricted to the eastern outskirts of the capital, from Porte de Bagnolet to Porte de Charenton. Police have refused a request from organisers for the march to start at the Bastille and head towards Place de la Nation in the heart of Paris.
According to local media reports, a Paris court lifted the ban on the Bastille-Nation route yesterday, but the Paris police prefecture immediately appealed against the ruling to the country’s highest court, which overturned the lower court’s decision this morning.
‘Narrative of violence an attempt to distract from our demands,’ protest organisers say
Organisers of the protests in Germany have rejected warnings from authorities that violent groups could seek to infiltrate the demonstrations.
Gen Z regelt (Gen Z is sorting it), the group behind the protests, has urged supporters to demonstrate peacefully. It is anticipating more than 160,000 people to turn out today to demand increased funding for schools, measures to tackle the rising cost of living and stronger climate action.
“The media’s rhetoric against the protests has been stirred up, so to speak, and is actually intended to distract from our core demands with a narrative of violence,” Veronika Dinter, a spokesperson for the movement, told the German Deutschlandfunk radio.
Alexander Throm, a member of the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU), has urged that a repeat of the unrest in France “must be prevented at all costs”.
Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik Meisel said an extra 1,500 officers would be deployed in the capital, but stressed there was little evidence of any planned attacks on people or property.
Here are some of the latest images from around France:
Jon Henley
In Paris, two separate marches planned by unions and gilets jaunes through the city centre have been banned. Instead, police have authorised a single march in the far south-east. An appeal by organisers against the decision to exclude them from the centre was rejected late on Friday night.
The interior ministry has said 410,000 people marched last Saturday, when a strong police presence mostly prevented a repeat of the widespread violence and looting that swept French cities during a first wave of mass protest on 17 October.
Unions and the gilets jaunes movement protesting over low wages, the cost of living and deteriorating public services have joined school and university students calling for better learning conditions, with a nationwide strike called for 5 November.
Government measures to address the students’ demands – including replacing a creaking university admissions platform and providing loans to local authorities for school renovations – did not go far enough, student leaders said.
Deborah Cole
In Germany, a loose alliance of groups called Gen Z regelt (Gen Z is sorting it) has called for supporters to turn out in more than 30 cities demanding more spending on schools, climate protection and housing, and against any plans to return to mandatory military service.
Alexander Throm, of the ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) parliamentary group, wrote in the Handelsblatt business newspaper: “Scenes like those in France must be prevented at all costs.”
But Felix Banaszak, the co-leader of the opposition Green party, cautioned against attempts to place the youth protests under general suspicion in advance.
“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,” he told the RND media group.
Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
Berlin’s police chief, Barbara Slowik Meisel, said she would deploy an additional 1,500 officers in the capital, though she had little reason to fear that people or property would come under attack.
“We have no concrete evidence of any coordinated looting operations being planned,” she said.
France braces for third weekend of protests as 70,000 police deployed
France is bracing for a third weekend of protests, with police deploying 70,000 officers in an effort to prevent a repeat of the riots and looting that have swept the country in recent weeks.
Nationwide protests over the rising cost of living and the deteriorating education system have drawn hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets. Some demonstrations have descended into violence, with widespread looting and vandalism reported on 17 October.
Ahead of this weekend’s planned demonstrations, shops and businesses across France have boarded up their storefronts. Police have restricted access to Place de la République and Les Halles between 11pm and 6am on Saturday and Sunday and unaccompanied minors face a separate 9pm curfew around the Champs-Elysees.
The French interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, warned earlier this week of a “very high risk of public disorder”, saying demonstrations would be permitted but not in city centres, where authorities are concerned about the potential for violence and damage to property. The interior ministry said around 150 demonstrations were scheduled to take place nationwide.
Nuñez said authorities had identified social media posts for Halloween gatherings urging protesters to spark a “revolution”.
“Everyone is on deck to ensure an extremely firm response to any trouble,” he added.
The largely peaceful protests, which began in late September by students angry over the state of school facilities, overcrowded classrooms and what they regard as an unfair university admissions process, have since been joined by the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) activists and and trade unionists. Government pledges to overhaul the education system and reduce fuel costs have done little to quell public anger.
The protests have sparked a wave of youth-led demonstrations across Europe, with protests scheduled in more than 30 German cities today. An alliance of groups called Gen Z regelt (Gen Z is sorting it) has urged supporters in cities including Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich and Cologne to take to the streets to demand greater investment in education, climate action and housing, as well as opposition to proposals to reintroduce compulsory military service. Organisers said they are expecting more than 160,000 people to take part in the demonstrations.
For the full story, you can read this report from Deborah Cole in Berlin and Jon Henley in Paris:
