French protest violence eases as scattered riots hit Germany

French authorities expressed relief on Sunday after mass protests over rising living costs resulted in less violence than previous weekends.

But police expect new demonstrations as schools at the heart of the movement reopen on Monday after their autumn break.

Germany faced its own challenges after nationwide protests on Saturday ended with rioters attacking police and looting stores in some cities.

Across Europe, hundreds of thousands joined overwhelmingly peaceful marches on Saturday inspired by young people, despite scattered unrest.

In Paris, rioters targeted police with Molotov cocktails at the end of Saturday’s march on the city’s eastern edge, injuring three officers and setting a car ablaze, police said.

Across town, masked groups hurled fireworks at officers at a viewpoint across from the Eiffel Tower, and police charged repeatedly, sending panicked tourists fleeing the area.

Overall, however, the violence was less severe than on October 17, when a city hall was torched and more than 2,000 stores were looted in hours of violence that authorities seemed unprepared to control, or during follow-up protests on October 24.

Police had arrested 779 people as of Saturday night, compared with 2,628 on October 17 and 1,314 last weekend.

Paris and Marseille police said a handful of shops were targeted but no major damage was reported.

A national police official said on Sunday that authorities had prepared for a larger turnout of both of peaceful marchers and troublemakers.

About 70,000 police were deployed around the country.

Police are preparing for more tensions as schools reopen Monday and as student groups and unions call for new nationwide protests on Tuesday and Thursday, the official told The Associated Press.

More than 100,000 mostly young people protested peacefully across Germany on Saturday, demanding that the government invest more money in education, housing, climate protection and make daily life more affordable.

In some cities the protests turned violent at night.

After a demonstration in Frankfurt, rioters attacked police in the city centre and looted stores.

Several protesters and officers were injured and 30 people were detained.

After police cordoned off an area in the city centre, the situation calmed down by early Sunday.

“I am shocked by the violent excesses in Frankfurt, which will not go unpunished,” said Boris Rhein, the governor of Hesse, where Frankfurt is located.

“Anyone who behaves like the attackers in central Frankfurt places themselves outside our society.”

Violence also broke out on Saturday in Cologne, where police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. In Berlin, protesters attacked police with bottles and pyrotechnics.

The organisers of Saturday’s protests, a youth initiative called “Gen Z regelt”, roughly “Gen Z’s got this”, posted a statement on Instagram distancing itself from “any form of violence, as well as violent acts by other groups or individuals” who were not part of the demonstrations.

German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt accused “violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from the immigrant community” of hijacking peaceful demonstrations.

“The rioters and looters will be identified and held accountable,” Mr Dobrindt told daily paper Bild on Sunday.

In Portugal, riot police overnight removed protesters by force from a square in Lisbon after protests for more affordable housing.

Thousands of people marched through the city during the day and at the end a few hundred camped out in Rossio, a square in central Lisbon.

Police intervened early Sunday, removing tents and pushing people away, and a few were detained.

Portuguese demonstrators have been protesting for weeks following inspiration from the Spanish movement over rising living costs, especially housing costs.