German minister questions integration strategy after youth riots

German Education Minister Karin Prien has said that the riots in a few cities following youth protests at the weekend raise the question of how to better encourage integration for new migrants.

The comments to public radio station Deutschlandfunk came in response to remarks by fellow conservative politicians in Germany linking the violence to people with migrant backgrounds. 

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt on Sunday pinned the blame for the unrest on "violent left-wing groups and troublemakers from migrant communities." 

Prien agreed that the demonstrations had been "largely peaceful" but that there had been violent excesses by far-left groups. "But also by others who probably also come from migrant backgrounds," she said.

"It is not about stirring up resentment, which would also be politically wrong," she explained.

She said it was about looking at reality and getting an impression of why people resort to violent means. "And if they come from migrant backgrounds, then that must worry us, and then we must also look at the causes," the minister said.

When certain groups are less well integrated into German society than others, "what needs to be done so that this succeeds better in future?" she said.

Other senior figures in the coalition government have not endorsed this view of the riots. 

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, from the Social Democrats, distanced himself from Dobrindt's remarks, saying: "What are migrant groups? Are they people who live in Germany in the third generation and are German citizens? Where do we stop differentiating? I think that leads in the wrong direction.

Demonstrations continue

Early Monday, demonstrators blocked the entrances to a building at the University of Hamburg with construction hoardings and rubbish skips.

Police said there were a total of three demonstrations at the site. On English-language banners, the demonstrators outside one building called for the liberation of all oppressed people. One masked activist told dpa that the protest to highlight the fact that one in three euros was now flowing into the arms industry rather than into education. 

They expressed solidarity with demonstrators across Europe, including from the "Gen Z regelt" (Gen Z Takes Charge) protests at the weekend, although they say they had organized their protest independently.

Well-known German activist Luisa Neubauer has meanwhile advised the organizers of the Gen Z demonstrations to narrow down their issues more precisely. 

"It's simply easier to build up pressure when you can focus your demands," she told local radio in Berlin.

She said, however, she could understand why the movement felt torn, given the many crises and unresolved issues. "This era tells us that there are crises everywhere; we don't even know where to start."