{"version":"1.9","identifier":"a47a16d1-26e0-494f-aeb7-850d9dcfa481","language":"en-US","title":"Hesse's Poseck defends calling Frankfurt rioters 'predominantly of migrant background,' details 73 suspects","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/germany-hesse-poseck-frankfurt-riots-migration-background-interior-committee-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-11T02:24:18.16Z","dateModified":"2026-11-11T02:24:48.736855Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"Of 73 suspects, 30 hold only German citizenship, the minister told a special committee session. The SPD's Pistorius and Pawlik have warned against blanket group labels.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/a47a16d1-26e0-494f-aeb7-850d9dcfa481/c102fec970e2b269b753872752a8c1f7.jpg","keywords":["de"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"Hesse's Poseck defends calling Frankfurt rioters 'predominantly of migrant background,' details 73 suspects","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Of 73 suspects, 30 hold only German citizenship, the minister told a special committee session. The SPD's Pistorius and Pawlik have warned against blanket group labels.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 11, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/a47a16d1-26e0-494f-aeb7-850d9dcfa481/c102fec970e2b269b753872752a8c1f7.jpg","caption":"Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) on the talk show Hart aber fair, Oct. 19, 2026 · Superbass via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0","accessibilityCaption":"Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) on the talk show Hart aber fair, Oct. 19, 2026","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) on the talk show Hart aber fair, Oct. 19, 2026 · Superbass via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Hesse's interior minister, Roman Poseck, on Tuesday defended his description of the people behind the Oct. 31 riots in Frankfurt as \"überwiegend migrantisch geprägt\" (predominantly of migrant background). \"Wenn wir die Tätergruppe nicht benennen, verschweigen wir etwas, was für Schlussfolgerungen elementar ist\" (If we do not name the group of offenders, we conceal something that is essential for drawing conclusions), he told a special session of the state parliament's interior committee in Wiesbaden, [hessenschau reported](https://www.hessenschau.de/politik/nach-gen-z-krawallen-poseck-verteidigt-aussagen-zu-migrationshintergrund--v1,poseck-innenausschuss-100.html).\n\nPoseck, a member of the [Christian Democratic Union](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/cdu), also gave the committee the first detailed profile of the suspects. Of 73 people now under suspicion, 30 hold only German citizenship, 17 hold dual citizenship and 26 hold another nationality, he said. The number of suspects is still rising. He announced a \"Maßnahmenbündel\" (package of measures) for youth protests planned for Nov. 20, which could include conditions on the assembly and preventive custody for likely troublemakers.\n\nThe session was the first parliamentary review of a night that began as a peaceful youth march and ended in looting and attacks on police. It also reopened a national argument over whether naming the migrant background of suspects helps solve a problem or casts suspicion on millions of law-abiding residents.\n\n## What the minister told the committee\n\nBetween 8,000 and 9,000 people marched through Frankfurt on Halloween, at first mostly peacefully, for better schools, more climate protection and against the return of military conscription, according to [a dpa report carried by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung](https://www.faz.net/agenturmeldungen/dpa/poseck-verteidigt-seine-aussagen-zu-migrationshintergrund-201671193.html). Police dissolved the assembly around 6 p.m. because of violence. Serious rioting, looting and clashes with police followed.\n\nPoseck said the violence did not start only after police ended the march. \"Ausschreitungen begannen nicht erst nach Auflösung der Versammlung\" (The riots did not begin only after the assembly was dissolved), he said. Six officers were hurt before the march was dissolved, one of them seriously. That officer was hit in the face by a stone thrown from the far-left block and lost three teeth, according to the minister.\n\nOver the whole evening, 181 police officers were reported injured, and 13 are still unfit for duty, Poseck said. About 1,300 officers were deployed in the course of the night.\n\nHe gave this profile of the 73 suspects:\n\n* About two-thirds are younger than 21, and two are under 14.\n* More than half were already known to police.\n* Only about a quarter live in Frankfurt itself.\n\nProsecutors are investigating offenses including breach of the peace, dangerous bodily harm and theft, according to the dpa report.\n\n**Citizenship of suspects in the Oct. 31 Frankfurt riots**\n\n73 suspects as of Nov. 10, 2026; the minister said the number is still rising. Citizenship is not the same as migration background.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Citizenship</th><th>Suspects</th></tr><tr><td>German only</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>Dual citizenship</td><td>17</td></tr><tr><td>Other nationality</td><td>26</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Source: [Hesse Interior Minister Roman Poseck to the state interior committee, via hessenschau](https://www.hessenschau.de/politik/nach-gen-z-krawallen-poseck-verteidigt-aussagen-zu-migrationshintergrund--v1,poseck-innenausschuss-100.html)\n\nBy the minister's figures, 43 of the 73 suspects, or about 59 percent, hold a foreign passport or a second citizenship. The other 41 percent hold only German citizenship. The figures do not show how many of the German-only suspects have a migration background, the broader category Poseck used. [Germany's federal statistics office](https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Migration-Integration/Methoden/Erlauterungen/migrationshintergrund.html) counts people as having a migration background if they, or at least one parent, did not have German citizenship from birth. Among the 26 suspects without German citizenship are Afghans, Serbs, Tunisians and Turks, Poseck said.\n\n## The minister's defense of his words\n\nPoseck first used the phrase the day after the riots. \"Diese Tätergruppe war überwiegend migrantisch geprägt. Und auch damit müssen wir uns auseinandersetzen\" (This group of offenders was predominantly of migrant background. And we must deal with that too), he said in Frankfurt, [Welt reported](https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article6ae723e982dfc5c67ce5a3f9/frankfurt-taetergruppe-war-ueberwiegend-migrantisch-gepraegt-sagt-poseck-afd-wirft-regierung-versagen-vor.html). \"Es darf hier keine falschen Tabus geben\" (There must be no false taboos here), he added.\n\nOn Tuesday he said that, taken as a whole, there was no doubt. \"Die Täter waren überwiegend junge Männer mit Migrationshintergrund\" (The offenders were predominantly young men with a migration background), he told the committee. He said the group must be discussed without false taboos, because otherwise targeted measures were impossible. That includes prevention and integration, he said.\n\nHe also tried to draw a line. \"Wenn ich sage, die Täter haben überwiegend Migrationshintergrund, wende ich mich nicht gegen Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund, die hier leben, die uns bereichern, die Steuern zahlen und die immer zu uns gehören sollen\" (When I say the offenders predominantly have a migration background, I am not turning against people with a migration background who live here, enrich us, pay taxes and should always belong to us), he said, according to the dpa report. He said he separates those who obey the law from \"the few\" who commit crimes.\n\n## A national argument over naming groups\n\nThe minister was not alone in his framing. Federal Interior Minister [Alexander Dobrindt](https://567politics.com/politicians/alexander-dobrindt) of the CSU told Bild that \"gewaltbereite linke Gruppen und Chaoten aus dem migrantischen Milieu\" (violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from the migrant milieu) had hijacked the peaceful afternoon protests, Welt reported. Chancellor [Friedrich Merz](https://567politics.com/politicians/friedrich-merz) backed Dobrindt. His spokesman, Stefan Kornelius, said the assessment drew on \"the observations of the investigating authorities and the officers on the scene,\" [Deutsche Welle reported](https://www.dw.com/de/frankfurt-krawalle-generalverdacht-gegen-migranten/a-79834924).\n\nThe criticism came largely from the Social Democrats, who govern with the conservatives in Berlin. Defense Minister [Boris Pistorius](https://567politics.com/politicians/boris-pistorius) of the [SPD](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/spd) agreed that the rioters were criminals who attacked police. But he questioned the label. \"Was sind denn migrantische Gruppen?\" (What are migrant groups, then?), he asked on ZDF, according to DW. \"Sind das Menschen, die in dritter Generation in Deutschland leben und deutsche Staatsangehörige sind?\" (Are they people who have lived in Germany for three generations and are German citizens?) He said the debate was heading \"in the wrong direction.\"\n\nThe federal integration commissioner, Natalie Pawlik, also of the SPD, made a similar point. \"Täter sind zunächst Täter\" (Offenders are offenders first), she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, [the Protestant news agency epd reported](https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/260591/02-11-2026/beauftragte-pawlik-hinweis-auf-migrantische-milieus-zu-einfach). She said blaming such violence on migrant milieus every time was \"zu einfach\" (too simple), because blanket labels also hit people with immigrant roots who marched peacefully or worked as police and paramedics that night. If investigators find that certain groups took a large part, she said, the causes must be discussed, including lack of prospects, exclusion and integration problems.\n\nSome conservatives took a middle line. Education and Family Minister [Karin Prien](https://567politics.com/politicians/karin-prien) of the CDU said the aim was not to stir resentment but to look at reality. If the offenders come from migrant milieus, \"that must worry us,\" she told Deutschlandfunk, according to DW.\n\nFrom the right, the [Alternative for Germany](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/afd) accused Poseck of failing to prevent the violence. Robert Lambrou, who leads the AfD group in the Hesse parliament, said the riots were an urgent call to the CDU-SPD state government \"endlich bei Linksextremisten und migrantischer Gewalt besser hinzuschauen\" (finally to look harder at left-wing extremists and migrant violence), Welt reported. \"Es ist offensichtlich, dass es hier auch um ungelöste Probleme mit Migration geht\" (It is obvious that this is also about unresolved problems with migration), he said.\n\nAbout 31 percent of people in Germany have a migration background, according to federal statistics cited by DW. In Frankfurt, more than one resident in two has an immigration history.\n\n## Why lawmakers called the session\n\nThe [Greens](https://567politics.com/parties/germany/greens), who are in opposition in Hesse, requested the special session two days after the riots. Vanessa Gronemann, the group's interior affairs spokeswoman, said lawmakers needed to separate the thousands of young people who had protested peacefully from those who rioted, [in a statement from the Green group](https://www.gruene-hessen.de/landtag/pressemitteilungen/ausschreitungen-in-frankfurt-aufklaerung-im-innenausschuss-unumgaenglich/). She also said the committee must examine why the riots happened \"trotz entsprechender Vorbereitung\" (despite corresponding preparation), how far the situation escalated, and what consequences should follow.\n\nThe committee's agenda listed two urgent report requests, [according to the Hesse parliament](https://hessischer-landtag.de/termine/innenausschuss-51-sitzung). The Greens' request covered the police operation around the \"GenZ regelt\" demonstrations. A second request from the Free Democrats asked about the threat assessment before the march, the police operation, prosecutions and help for people whose property was damaged.\n\nThe national youth protest movement known as \"Gen Z regelt\" brought tens of thousands into the streets across Germany on Oct. 31, mostly peacefully, DW reported. Violence also broke out in Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin. The organizers distanced themselves from the riots right away and reject the accusations against them, according to DW. 567 Politics covered [the spread of youth protests across Europe](https://567politics.com/news/europe-youth-protests-living-costs-military-service-november-2026) and [a CDU proposal to make rioters jointly liable for damage](https://567politics.com/news/germany-krings-riot-joint-liability-frankfurt-dobrindt-november-2026).\n\n## Police patrols since the riots and the Nov. 20 protests\n\nSince the riots, police have stepped up patrols on the Zeil, Frankfurt's main shopping street. The special unit there now runs checks every day rather than only on Fridays and Saturdays, [the Hesse interior ministry said on Nov. 8](https://innen.hessen.de/presse/polizei-verstaerkt-kontrollen-auf-der-zeil). From Monday to Saturday of the first week, about 400 officers checked 945 people and 169 vehicles. They filed 31 criminal complaints, recorded 334 administrative offenses and issued 72 orders to leave the area. They also seized two knives, a telescopic baton, a gas pistol and a pepper pistol, the ministry said.\n\n\"Die Bilder vom 31. Oktober dürfen sich nicht wiederholen\" (The images of Oct. 31 must not be repeated), Poseck said in that statement. \"Wir überlassen die Zeil nicht Menschen, die offensichtlich ihre eigenen Regeln aufstellen\" (We will not leave the Zeil to people who obviously make their own rules), he said.\n\nThe next test comes on Nov. 20, when new youth protests are planned. Earlier this month, Poseck raised the possibility of banning further Gen Z marches, DW reported. The right of assembly is a high good, he said, but peacefulness is just as essential, and \"the organizers do not have these assemblies under control.\" On Tuesday he spoke of a package of measures instead. Preventive custody, one of the options he named, means holding likely participants before an assembly to stop a serious disruption, hessenschau explained.\n\n**From a youth march to a committee hearing**\n\n* **Oct. 31, 2026**: Youth march in Frankfurt is dissolved around 6 p.m.; rioting and looting follow\n* **Nov. 1, 2026**: Poseck calls the group of offenders \"predominantly of migrant background\"\n* **Nov. 2, 2026**: Hesse Greens request a special interior committee session; Pawlik calls the label \"too simple\"\n* **Nov. 8, 2026**: Interior ministry reports 945 people checked on the Zeil in one week\n* **Nov. 10, 2026**: Poseck defends his words and gives the committee a profile of 73 suspects\n* **Nov. 20, 2026**: New youth protests planned\n\n*Sources were reviewed on Nov. 10, 2026. German quotations were translated by 567 Politics staff.*","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}