French officials have opened an investigation into the attempted murder of a police officer and Germany’s interior minister has called for harsh penalties after peaceful and mainly youth-led protests across Europe ended in violence.
asserted
protests → open → violence
In Portugal, police – some with dogs – cleared protest camps with baton charges, while security forces in Switzerland were attacked with paving stones.
asserted
forces → clear → stones
Protests over the education system, deteriorating public services, declining prospects, unaffordable housing and the spiralling cost of living have shaken a number of countries this autumn.
asserted
Protests → deteriorate → countries
Violence erupted in the French capital as well as Marseille, Grenoble, Bordeaux, Lyon and Toulouse on Saturday night after an estimated 320,000 demonstrators, some in Halloween costume, took to the streets.
asserted
demonstrators → erupt → streets
As the rallies ended, masked and hooded rioters arrived and caused what the interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, described as an “extraordinary” level of violence.
asserted
minister → end → violence
More than 770 people were arrested.
asserted
people → arrest → ?
In Paris, the prosecutor’s office said incendiary devices were thrown at a group of about 15 gendarmes and police officers and a formal investigation had been opened for “attempted murder of persons vested with public authority”.
asserted
investigation → say → authority
Injuries reportedly included second-degree burns in an incident captured on mobile phone video and shared on social media and broadcast on French television.
uncertain
Injuries → include → television
The level of physical violence and looting was significantly lower than on 17 October, when 2,600 people were arrested and as many as 3,000 shops pillaged in one of the worst nights of urban unrest in France’s recent history.
asserted
shops → arrest → history
In Germany, looters and rioters rampaged through Frankfurt, the country’s financial hub, damaging stores and injuring more than 100 police officers.
“The rioters and looters will be identified and held accountable,” said Alexander Dobrindt, the hardline interior minister.
asserted
Dobrindt → rampage → officers
He singled out “violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from the migrant community”, adding: “Tough penalties must follow this breach of the peace.”
asserted
penalties → single → peace
Dobrindt told the tabloid newspaper Bild that deploying a heavy police presence across multiple locations had been effective.
asserted
deploying → tell → locations
“Excesses of violence like those in Paris were prevented thanks to our highly committed police forces,” he said.
asserted
he → prevent → forces
More than 100,000 protesters marched in over 30 German cities on Saturday to demand better education and lower living costs in protests led by the “Gen Z regelt” (Gen Z will sort it) campaign.
asserted
Z → march → campaign
Hooded rioters damaged 17 Frankfurt shops, looting five of them, and threw missiles including petrol bombs, according to Roman Poseck, the state interior minister for Hesse.
uncertain
rioters → hood → Hesse
More than 100 of the 1,300 police officers deployed in the city were injured and 54 suspects, aged from 13 to 29, were arrested.
asserted
suspects → deploy → 29
“I am shocked by what I have seen, and there is no point in sugar-coating it.
asserted
I → shock → it
Let me make this very clear: things cannot go on like this,” Poseck said.
asserted
Poseck → let → this
Most of those arrested were German nationals, the minister said, adding that police estimated they had been confronted with “between 1,000 and 1,500 violent troublemakers, predominantly from a migrant background”.
asserted
they → arrest → background
Violence also broke out Saturday night in Cologne, where police used water cannon to disperse the crowd, and in Berlin, where protesters attacked police with bottles and fireworks.
asserted
protesters → break → bottles
Gen Z regelt posted a statement distancing itself from all violence.
asserted
regelt → post → violence
In Portugal, riot police removed protesters by force from Rossio Square in Lisbon at about 4.30am on Sunday after thousands of people angry at the housing crisis marched through the city on Saturday and set up camp.
asserted
thousands → remove → camp
The protesters want Portugal’s minority centre-right government to withdraw a bill that makes evictions easier and ends rent caps on new leases.
asserted
evictions → want → leases
A smaller camp in Porto was also cleared by force.
asserted
camp → clear → force
In Albania, masked protesters hurled stones and firebombs at police in the capital, Tirana, on the margins of a demonstration demanding the resignation of the prime minister, Edi Rama, over perceived corruption.
asserted
protesters → hurl → corruption
Youths threw paving stones and firebombs at police and set fire to rubbish bins at the end of a largely peaceful protest.
asserted
Youths → throw → protest
The interior ministry said on Friday that 350 people had been hurt in the protests, including 200 police, with 269 minors arrested.
asserted
minors → say → police
In Switzerland, hundreds of protesters gathered in Zürich and Basel on Saturday night for unauthorised demonstrations – both of which ended in violence – under the slogan: “We’ve had enough in Switzerland, too.”
asserted
We → gather → Switzerland
In Zürich, police used water cannon, teargas and rubber bullets to disperse rioters attacking them with fireworks, bottles and stones, Swiss media reported.
asserted
media → use → fireworks
A police patrol car was damaged and rubbish bins and electric bikes set on fire.
asserted
bins → damage → fire
In Basel, police said about 150 people gathered in the city centre at around 9pm.
asserted
people → say → 9
Shop windows were smashed, facades tagged with graffiti and bins and bikes set on fire, with incidents also reported in Geneva.
asserted
incidents → smash → Geneva
The Aporia
