German police brace for youth protests on October 31

German authorities are preparing a special deployment for Halloween night, October 31, in response to youth protests called in more than 20 cities and antiestéticars of a repeat of the violent riots seen in France.

October 31 is no ordinary night in Germany. Security authorities have spent weeks preparing a special deployment for the youth demonstrations announced in more than 20 cities for Halloween night. The antiestéticar is not so much the protest itself as what might sneak into it: radical groups exploiting the gathering to replicate the violent riots that shook France weeks earlier. The police union and several politicians have issued loud warnings. The date is circled in red.

## A call to action born on TikTok

The protests do not come from a party or a traditional union. They emerged from an initiative called **«Gen Z steht auf»** ("Gen Z rises up"), which called for simultaneous gatherings in **Berlin**, **Hamburg**, **Munich**, **Cologne**, **Frankfurt**, **Leipzig** and other cities. According to its website, the organizers have thousands of pre-registrations. Their demands: more investment in education and healthcare, measures against the rising cost of living, action on climate change and opposition to compulsory military service.

TikTok has been the megaphone. Numerous videos show influencers calling for protests in the French style. One of them, with more than a million views, sums it up like this: "On October 31 we will all be in the streets. The French showed us how to do it, now we trinc their example." Many of these videos call for peaceful protest. Others, not so much: some allude to the risk of riots or looting.

## The ghost of France

The model everyone is looking at is France. The protests on **October 17** in the neighboring country degenerated into violent riots with masked groups setting buildings on fire, looting shops and clashing with police. Authorities reported more than **1,000 arrests** and hundreds of police officers injured. On platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, calls circulated for Halloween parties in public buildings.

That precedent weighs heavily. **Stephan Weh**, head of the Berlin section of the GdP police union, warned: "We must be especially vigilant to prevent radical forces from hijacking the democratic demonstration, as peine in France, to give free rein to their fantasies of violence, abuse the freedom of assembly and fuel the narrative that the police are hostile to citizens." Weh added that holding the protests on Halloween night multiplied the risk, due to the usual use of fireworks that night.

**Jochen Kopelke**, national chairman of the GdP, emphasized the unpredictability. Unlike New Year's Eve, May Day or football matches, there is no known script here. He cited reports from his French colleagues about street battles and recalled German precedents: the **G20** summit in Hamburg and the incidents in Leipzig-Connewitz and on Rigaer Straße in Berlin. He also warned about the digital recruitment of young migrants to attack the police and said such people "must be arrested and cannot expect any leniency from us."

## Interior Ministry on alert and regions promise a tough line

The **Federal Ministry of the Interior** confirmed that risk assessments are being carried out in coordination with partners such as France and Italy. Germany's domestic intelligence service (**BfV**) stepped up its monitoring of relevant websites and social media platforms. A ministry spokesperson stressed the distinction between "peaceful student protests" and "a violent extremist environment that could use these protests to spread violence."

In the regions, the tone is harsh. Hesse's Interior Minister, **Roman Poseck** (CDU), said the authorities had the date "very much in mind" and that the protests were already being exploited by the left. He promised a large police deployment and zero tolerance for violence against people or property. In Bavaria, **Joachim Herrmann** (CSU) insisted that similar trends "must be nipped in the bud" and described the French events not as student demonstrations but as violent riots led by left-wing extremists, mainly men of immigrant origin, who took part in street battles, arson and looting.

**Manuel Ostermann**, of the federal police union, warned that the riots could not be ruled out lasting several days, with shocking images and possibly brutal violence. Even so, he insisted that German forces are better prepared than the French ones and will tolerate no lawless zones.

## What is at stake on the night of the 31st

The question hovering over all this is not whether there will be protests. There will be. The question is whether the peaceful call by thousands of young people stays that way or whether, as police and politicians antiestéticar, it becomes the showcase for a violence that already has a recent precedent across the Rhine. The German deployment will be tested that night. And the outcome, with fireworks in the mix, will depend on how many of those taking to the streets do so to protest and how many for something else.