Ku'damm Stores Board Up Shopfronts Ahead of Gen Z Protest in Berlin

Workers were seen on Friday morning attaching wooden frames and pressed plywood panels to shopfronts along Berlin's Kurfürstendamm, as luxury retailers braced for Saturday's "Gen Z regelt" protest. Tiffany & Co. was among the first to begin the work; by early afternoon the jewellery store was almost unrecognisable from the street, with only its door and logo visible behind darkened boards. A staff member said the store feared a repeat of the disorder seen in France: "We fear it will be like it was in other countries like France." A Prada employee echoed the concern, saying staff were "expecting the worst and preparing accordingly." Huawei posted a notice that its Ku'damm branch would close early on Saturday at 13:00.

Nils Busch-Petersen, head of the Berlin-Brandenburg Retail Association, nonetheless advised members not to barricade their shops, saying security authorities in both states had given credible assurances that there was no evidence of organised looting planned.

The "Gen Z regelt" movement has called for protests in around 30 German cities on Saturday. Its Berlin local group, made up of roughly 30 people including apprentices, pupils and students, explicitly rejects violence. Spokesperson Veronika Dinter cited cuts to education, rising living costs and planned conscription as central concerns. Two Berlin demonstrations are scheduled: a rally at the Brandenburg Gate from 14:00, where 10,000 people are expected and police anticipate a peaceful event, and a separate march at Rosenthaler Platz starting at 17:30, drawing an estimated 400–500 people, which police consider higher-risk. Officers see tension potential in the overlap of the protests with Halloween but have found no evidence of deliberate incitement to violence.