Rioters who set a French riot officer alight with a petrol bomb remain at large as an 'attempted murder' probe opens
Crowds on the streets of Frankfurt on Saturday night, as around 100 rioters — some in Halloween costumes — smashed open storefronts and attacked emergency workers with Molotov cocktails amid a Gen Z cost-of-living protest that drew an estimated 8,000 demonstrators at its peak.A post shared by @NewsFokus on X showing scenes from Frankfurt am Main under the #GenZRegelt hashtag, as France separately banned Halloween masks ahead of fresh protests.Riot police on the streets of Paris. France banned Halloween masks and deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide amid warnings of "a very high risk of public disorder.Fires and smoke at Porte de Charenton, Paris, as a French officer was treated for severe burns after a Molotov cocktail struck him — an attack France's interior minister described as attempted murder.
The Paris prosecutor's office has opened a formal investigation for "attempted murder of persons vested with public authority" after explosive devices were hurled at around 15 gendarmes and police officers during Saturday's Halloween protests. The injured gendarme told RTL the flammable substance was "so greasy I could feel it spreading across my skin", with his leg and shin protections among the riot uniform components that melted. No arrests have been made for the firebomb attack, despite more than 770 arrests nationwide.
Prosecutors have identified three individuals dressed in black bloc style as suspects but say they remain at large.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the act of lobbing a Molotov cocktail into a police line as a "murder attempt", calling the broader violence "extraordinary".
Marine Le Pen demanded those responsible be "punished with the utmost severity" as France's political tensions mount ahead of next year's presidential election.
