Violent protests in several German cities have ended for now, but the federal government is debating who was responsible and whether the unrest was linked to people with migrant backgrounds. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Sunday that violent left-wing groups and “troublemakers from the migrant milieu” were behind the riots.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius rejected the wording shortly afterward. In an ARD interview, the SPD politician questioned who should be included in the term “migrant groups,” particularly when referring to people who were born in Germany or have lived there for several generations. He said he could not yet verify the facts surrounding the unrest and therefore did not share Dobrindt’s assessment.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz later backed the interior minister’s position. Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said the “Gen Z regelt” protests had been overwhelmingly peaceful and that the concerns of young people should be taken seriously. At the same time, he said, the chancellor condemned the outbreaks of violence and did not consider the reference to a “migrant milieu” a general suspicion against people with an immigrant background.
The government’s integration commissioner, Natalie Pawlik, called for the violence to be punished but cautioned against drawing conclusions from people’s origins. If investigations showed that particular groups had been especially involved, she said, authorities should examine why young people committed such acts, including possible lack of prospects, exclusion and integration problems. The central question, she stressed, should be why the violence occurred rather than where the suspects or their families came from.
The Interior Ministry said Dobrindt had based his assessment on information from several state authorities. However, state police forces are not required to provide all their findings to the federal ministry, meaning that no final nationwide figures were available. The ministry also did not clearly define who was covered by the term “migrant milieu”; a spokeswoman referred generally to people with a migration background but could not say how many generations the description included.
In Frankfurt, police are investigating the events of October 31 with a special commission and reviewing numerous videos. Officers arrested 54 young men during the night. Although many reportedly hold German citizenship, around 95 percent are said to come from immigrant families. Police are examining whether some belonged to groups that have repeatedly attracted attention on the city’s main shopping street, the Zeil.
Authorities counted up to 1,500 people at around 30 trouble spots on the Zeil and in nearby streets. Police said many participants came from outside Frankfurt and that some were already known to them. The force is comparing data from earlier checks with evidence gathered during the riots. In 2025, police recorded 4,500 offences in the area, including assaults, sexual offences and robberies. The share of foreign suspects in a previous police assessment was 75.1 percent.
Investigators have yet to determine how groups of young people with migrant backgrounds may have interacted with actors from the far-left scene. A red vehicle that was part of the Gen Z demonstration apparently played a significant role in preparing attacks on police involving fireworks, bottles and stones. It remains unclear whether the young people were themselves involved in initiating the violence or were encouraged by left-wing extremists.
Cologne police have emphasized a separate distinction between the largely peaceful Gen Z demonstration and the disorder that later occurred in the city center. Authorities said between 200 and 300 young men, apparently with migrant backgrounds, were involved in the riots. Their identities had not yet been fully evaluated. Police described them as violence-oriented youths who were out in the context of Halloween and, based on current findings, were not directed by an organized group or connected to the demonstration.
The Cologne demonstration drew around 4,000 people, most of whom were peaceful. After a larger group moved toward the city center without prior agreement, masked individuals threw bottles, stones and firecrackers at officers. Police formed a line and later deployed water cannons. Around 1,000 people refused to leave after the event was dissolved. Security sources said most of those individuals did not have a migrant background. Officers seized large quantities of bladed weapons, emergency hammers, improvised pyrotechnics, Molotov cocktails, protective goggles and face-covering materials.
The head of the Cologne police operation said the attacks appeared targeted and prepared rather than the result of a spontaneous escalation. He said people had come to Cologne to riot and had used the assembly as a cover for violence, while emphasizing the need to distinguish them from the many peaceful demonstrators.
Sources: FAZ.