Hesse Minister Seeks Tougher Crackdown After Frankfurt Riots

Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck said he would examine “also legal measures” against further demonstrations like the one held the previous weekend. He appealed to Gen Z and other organizers to reconsider their form of protest. “We need a tougher approach,” he said, calling for a perpetrator-focused response involving the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Poseck said authorities should openly discuss how to deal with those involved. “There must be no taboos.”

The State's Response

Poseck said violence had injured more than 500 police officers across Germany. In Hesse, he said, a thrown stone hit one officer in the face and knocked out his teeth; other injuries included bruises and hematomas. About 100 officers were injured in the Frankfurt riots, including one seriously. Poseck also said authorities must review the police operation, including the groups involved.

Authorities began reviewing events a day after violence followed the Gen Z demonstration in Frankfurt. Frankfurt police chief Stefan Müller said a special commission had been set up during the night to examine what happened and process the offenses. Extensive video footage could help investigators identify people involved in property damage and looting, he said, adding that he was confident they could identify many suspects later.

Police and prosecutors were investigating 54 people in connection with the outbreak of violence, the Hesse Justice Ministry said. Authorities had identified those people by name. One arrested person had appeared before a judge, who held him in pretrial detention. The 18-year-old Syrian was accused of stealing a weapon from a shop.

Justice Minister Christian Heinz said investigations remained at an early stage. “Within a few hours, however, we succeeded in identifying a large number of offenders. They will have to face consequences,” he said. The Frankfurt prosecutor's office listed allegations including breach of the peace, dangerous bodily injury, burglary and theft, resisting law enforcement officers, and assaulting law enforcement officers. Other allegations included trespassing, property damage, damage to property of public interest, and violating the assembly law.

Senior prosecutor Dominik Mies said establishing specific offenses and identifying suspects not yet known presented a particular challenge. Some known suspects were younger than 14 and would not face punishment under the legal provisions of the Youth Courts Act. Youth criminal law applies to offenders aged 14 to 18, with possible sanctions ranging from a reprimand to a youth sentence without probation. For offenders aged 18 to 21, authorities assess each case to determine whether youth or general criminal law applies.

Who Gets Named

Poseck said initial findings put suspects’ ages between 13 and 29; many had German citizenship despite having a migration background. He described “completely uninhibited violence” by young migrants and said authorities would deal more consistently with young people from immigrant families.

Frankfurt Mayor Mike Josef responded to Poseck's comments about left-wing extremists and violence-prone young people “mostly with a migration background” by saying: “I don't care at all what passport someone has or where their parents were born. Anyone who attacks police officers, loots shops or threatens people in our city must face the consequences.” He said the city would work with police to establish how the escalation happened.

Police chief Müller also described a group that hadn't taken part in the Gen Z demonstration but had gathered in the Zeil shopping street, as it had on other weekends. He said people had previously considered the group “action-oriented,” but since Saturday evening, it had become clear that its members were highly willing to use violence. Attacks on police and damage to shops had reached a new dimension, he said.

Damage and Accountability

At least 20 businesses in central Frankfurt suffered damage or looting during the night into Sunday. A running shop on Große Friedberger Straße reported damage estimated at 30,000 to 40,000 euros; stores on Zeil and Berliner Straße also suffered damage. Shopkeepers cleared up and boarded up windows on Sunday.

Josef said the violence shocked him. Police officers had faced attacks, shops had been looted, and shop windows had been smashed. “That is unacceptable, and we will not accept it,” he said, calling for perpetrators to be identified and held accountable “with the full force of the rule of law.” The city was also concerned about people whose businesses, built over years and decades, faced damage despite having nothing to do with the riots, he said.

The Handelsverband Hessen called for swift support for affected retailers. It said people must distinguish the largely peaceful demonstration by school pupils, students and young people from the violence that followed. The association described the destruction as an outburst no longer driven primarily by political protest but by “an almost intoxicating joy in rioting and destruction itself.” It said city centers should have no room for it.

Josef said the city would contact affected business owners and see how it could support them. He thanked police officers and other emergency workers who had been on duty to protect the city. The opposition AfD in the Hesse state parliament accused Poseck of failing to prevent “French conditions”; parliamentary group leader Robert Lambrou said his group would raise the violence in the state parliament and called attention to left-wing extremists and migrant violence.