Remember, Remember: The Religious Story behind Bonfire Night

Remember, Remember: The Religious Story behind Bonfire Night

 

By Annabelle Coates 

Bonfire Night is, in my opinion, a criminally underrated occasion. I personally love standing in a muddy field in the freezing cold with my friends; all wrapped up in scarves, gloves and hats with a cup of hot chocolate keeping me from freezing over entirely. But when I’m gazing up at a gorgeous firework display on 5th November, it’s hard to think that this annual event actually came from a Catholic conspiracy to overthrow a Protestant monarch back in 1605. Many of you might have heard the rhyme: ‘Remember, remember the 5th November; Gunpowder, treason and plot…’ (nobody really says the rest). Many of you might have also heard a different name for the holiday: Guy Fawkes Night, after the man deemed to be the face of the conspiracy. So who is Guy Fawkes, and how did gunpowder, treason and plot lead to rockets, wheels and sparklers being shot into the air every year?

To very briefly summarise centuries of British history, there had been a lingering tension between Protestantism and Catholicism (two different branches of Christianity) both nationally and globally. The Reformation swept Britain by storm throughout the 16th Century, with Protestant leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin criticising the Catholic Church’s immense wealth and corruption of the clergy (like with the selling of indulgences to ‘speed up’ a person’s journey through purgatory after death). Eventually, Henry VIII’s break with Rome in 1534 established the king as the supreme head of the Church of England. Over time, said Church moved away from Catholic tradition and practices (apart from a slight blip during Catholic Queen Mary I’s reign in 1553-58) and England became Protestant.

This leads us to the reign of James I of England (also James VI of Scotland). Britain was now a massive Protestant power, and although many Catholics were hoping for a bit of change and acceptance politically (possibly due to James being the son of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots – confusingly different from the Catholic Mary I), unfortunately this never occurred. Anti-Catholicism was deeply embedded in most members of the House of Commons, although Catholics didn’t help themselves either, with small plots against James I such as the Bye Plot and the Main Plot (1603) limiting the amount of sympathy for Catholics in the UK.

But some Catholics just couldn’t help themselves, and the Gunpowder Plot was born. Although Guy Fawkes is the most famous (or potentially the only) name usually associated with the plot, he wasn’t actually the leader or instigator of it. That role goes to Robert Catesby (from Warwickshire – where I went to college!!), who proposed the plan in May 1604 to blow up James I, the House of Lords and the House of Commons during the State Opening of Parliament. He recruited the other 4 main conspirators: Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy and Guy Fawkes, and the plan started to form.

Communist, Islamist, and Globalist Coalition on Full Display After Midterms: Newman on Newsmax

Communist, Islamist, and Globalist Coalition on Full Display After Midterms: Newman on Newsmax

Liberty Sentinel by Alex Newman

Nov 4, 2026

Last night's blistering defeat for the GOP revealed key issues within the party, but it also illustrated what journalist Alex Newman has been warning about for years: the red-green-blue axis of Communists, Islamists, and globalists.

Will Americans wake up?

Newman joins Newsmax to break it down.

On Election night, the religious left is back

On Election night, the religious left is back

From Texas to Kansas, Democratic candidates drew on their religious values, securing wins and signaling a shift in the relationship between faith and politics.

Democratic Senate candidate Texas state Rep. James Talarico speaks at an election night event in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. 

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Jack Jenkins

November 4, 2026 at 2:56 a.m. ET

(RNS) — Asked Tuesday night (Nov 3) about the state Rep. James Talarcio’s victory in Texas U.S. Senate race, the Rev. Jim Rigby, who has long pastored the Presbyterian church Talarico grew up in, said he was still grappling with the moment.

“It’s just too surreal,” Rigby said, who was watching the returns from home. “It’s going to take a while to completely take that in.”

But Rigby, a staunch liberal who has long advocated for immigrants and LGBTQ people, also reflected on what he sees as the broader dynamic of Election Night, which saw Democrats such as Talarico — himself a Presbyterian seminarian — win sweeping victories across the country.

“There’s an awakening taking place,” he said. “It’s not even so much one religion as opposed to another religion, but an idea that everybody counts.”

The victories marked a striking moment for the religious left, which has long struggled to match the influence and visibility of conservative Christians. Across the country, candidates and faith leaders embraced a message that put values such as compassion and inclusion at the center of their campaigns.

“Two thousand years ago, when the people at the top hurt his neighbors, that barefoot rabbi didn’t stay in his room and pray,” Talarico said in his victory speech, as he stood in front of a placard that read “Love thy Neighbor.”

Jesus “walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice,” he said.

In addition to Talarico in Texas, who made his religious beliefs a centerpiece of his campaign, Democrats saw a faith leader trigger an upset in the Kansas U.S. Senate race: There, the Rev. Adam Hamilton, who pastors a United Methodist megachurch, sailed to a resounding win in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932.

Trump Loses BIG: What It Means for Europe EU Made Simple

Trump Loses BIG: What It Means for Europe

EU Made Simple  

Nov 4, 2026

A BLUE TSUNAMI hit America — Trump's Republicans lost the House AND the Senate, with even Kansas, Texas and South Carolina turning blue. But a weakened Trump at home could be a MORE dangerous Trump abroad: a cornered, "feral" lame duck who still controls the military, foreign policy, tariffs, and could escalate the war with Iran or cut off Ukraine, with Congress far less able to stop him than you'd think. So should Europe celebrate… or finally use these two years to break its dependence on America?

Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George elected DC’s first new mayor in 12 years

WTOP News  

Nov 4, 2026

D.C. has officially joined the wave of U.S. cities who have elected Democratic Socialists to top positions as part of a seismic political shake-up in the nation’s capital.

The District has elected a new mayor, Janeese Lewis George, for the first time in 12 years.

5 DSA candidates are elected to the House in a historic night for their movement

Congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier speaks at a rally at King's Theater on June 18, 2026 in New York City. She is among a slate of DSA-backed candidates heading to Congress after midterm election victories.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

November 3, 2026 10:44 PM ET

Elena Moore

In a historic night for the Democratic Socialists of America, a record number of candidates endorsed by the organization and its local chapters were elected to the House of Representatives.

The results grow the organization's presence on Capitol Hill, bringing to Congress a bloc of lawmakers who will now look to translate their electoral success into policy wins that push the Democratic Party further to the left.

At least five DSA candidates in reliably blue congressional districts have won their races, according to race calls by the Associated Press. They are Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York; Melat Kiros in Colorado; Donavan McKinney in Michigan; and Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania.

Their victories follow a fiercely competitive primary cycle, where DSA candidates rode to victory by championing economic populist policies like universal healthcare and childcare, as well as more polarizing stances, such as abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Throughout the primaries, candidates endorsed by the group were unafraid to criticize or break with Democratic leadership, challenging sitting incumbents or competing against establishment picks.

That included Kiros, who defeated Rep. Diana DeGette — a 15-term incumbent and member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — in Colorado's 1st Congressional District in July. Just days earlier, Chevalier delivered a major upset in New York's 13th Congressional District, narrowly defeating Adriano Espaillat, the influential chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

On top of emphasizing a core value set aimed at bettering the working class, many DSA candidates tapped into voter frustrations with the larger political system. Candidates swore off campaign donations from corporations and pro-Israel lobbying groups. They fiercely condemned the war in Gaza and called for the U.S. to stop supplying Israel with military aid.

While the DSA's platform energized some voters on the left, it also became a prominent attack line for Republicans, who sought to paint the broader Democratic Party as too extreme and link more moderate candidates to democratic socialist figures like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.

The DSA is not a registered political party, but with Tuesday's victories, the number of DSA members in the House is on track to more than triple when the new Congress is seated in January. Currently just two sitting lawmakers — Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ocasio-Cortez — are members of the organization.

It's a small, albeit growing coalition, but one that could complicate the legislative agenda of Democrats if they succeed in winning back the House. In a new Congress where Democrats have only a thin majority, the bloc could wield outsize influence. If Democrats can win a broader majority, their influence could prove more limited.

The upcoming vote for House speaker may serve as an early test. If Democrats win the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is poised to be elected the nation's first Black speaker. Currently, none of the incoming members with DSA endorsements has committed to supporting Jeffries.

Source 

The Health Reform Message - A Purifying Message Part1 - Ivan Plummer

Steps to Life

Nov 3, 2026  Campmeeting 2026

Of all the wonderful messages or doctrines that the Lord has given to his church, there are few that are not appreciated by Seventh-day Adventist's. And among these few doctrines is the health reform message. And this message is fought against probably most by many Seventh-day Adventist Christians. And so the logical question that anyone would ask why is it that Seventh-day Adventist who ought to be beneficiaries of this wonderful message, why is it that there is that level of resistance against the health message? Why is it that people literally hate the help (health) message? 

SUBSCRIBE    / @stepstolifeministry  

Contact us on our webpage at: https://www.stepstolife.org/contact/ or call us at 1-800-THE-TRUTH (800-843-8788) or email us at historic@stepstolife.org.

Token of the Everlasting Covenant | Our High Calling - November 4

 

WATCH: Steve Kornacki Analyze 2026 Midterm Election Results | Kornacki Cam | NBC News

Every Country is in Debt and Broke

Every Country is in Debt and Broke

BANANOMICS  

Sep 26, 2026  

Everyone treats government debt as a bill that is going to come due one day.

It is not a bill. It is a circle. Money gets printed, spent on roads and bridges, saved in banks, lent straight back to the government, and spent again. It ran for fifty years and nobody ever needed it to stop, because the debt was never meant to be repaid. It was meant to keep moving.

It stopped moving. The savings that used to sit in banks went into the stock market instead, the banks ran short of what they lend, and that is why the road works stalled, why the tax bill only moves one way, and why central banks are quietly buying gold again.

This is the global debt crisis, explained with gorillas, monkeys, and a mountain of paper that nobody is ever going to pay.

Chapters in this video:

0:00 Who the world owes it to 0:14 The year the dollar left the gold 0:30 The circle nobody had to stop 0:57 Three hundred against one hundred 1:20 Three ways out, all of them bad 1:37 The money went somewhere else 1:50 Unrest, wars, and a quiet run on gold 2:14 The whole thing is the bubble

Mainline Protestants Are Having a Political Moment. Can They Move From Protest to Power?

November 2, 2026
author: Jack Jenkins, RNS

(RNS) — Many have puzzled over the unusual number of pastors, former pastors, and seminarians running for Congress as Democrats this year, but not the Rev. Adam Hamilton. Asked in August about the trend, Hamilton, a United Methodist megachurch pastor running an unexpectedly competitive race for U.S. Senate in Kansas as a Democrat, answered immediately.

The Rev. Adam Hamilton, center, speaks to congregants after a service at Resurrection United Methodist Church, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2026, in Leawood, Kan. (RNS photo/Kit Doyle)

“Since the beginning of 2025, things are so abnormal in Washington, D.C.,” he told Religion News Service, explaining he believes actions by the Trump administration have spurred people to wrestle with what, exactly, constitutes American values.

“I think there’s a lot of religious people — especially, I think, mainline Protestant pastors — who are saying: Somebody’s got to do something,” he said, adding that pastors-turned-candidates like himself are “feeling the sense of call, and I’m going to attribute it to the Holy Spirit.”

It’s a sentiment shared by a surprising number of Democratic candidates this election cycle. Of the nine pastors, former pastors and seminarians running for Congress as Democrats this year, six — including four locked in tight, widely watched races — belong to mainline Protestant denominations, such as the UMC, Presbyterian Church (USA), and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The candidacies have put a spotlight on the theology of primarily white mainline Protestants, a politically moderate group whose clergy skew liberal and whose members make up around 13% of the U.S. population, according to the Public Religion Research Institute. The slate of mainline candidates with religious training follows a nearly decade-long spike in political engagement largely in response to the rise of President Donald Trump and his evangelical supporters. From Texas to Iowa to Kansas, mainline Protestant candidates, while careful to voice support for the separation of church and state, are giving voice to forms of public theology that could reclaim a position their tradition lost decades ago: a recognized Christian power in U.S. politics.

Runner, 24, Dies During Her First Marathon

Rachel Apa, who died while running the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Credit...Hollis Kolmansburger

Rachel Apa collapsed in Central Park. The cause was rhabdomyolysis, a rare muscle condition that can be brought on by exertion, her father said.



By Andy Newman

Published Nov. 2, 2026

Updated Nov. 3, 2026, 12:43 a.m. ET


Rachel Apa’s mother was waiting for her at Mile 25.

It was Rachel’s first marathon. She was 24, an athlete, a former Division I field hockey player at Bucknell University. She had trained for this race, the New York City Marathon, for months.

At Mile 14 on Sunday, in Queens, Rachel’s mother, Michelle Apa, had taken a video of her daughter, all smiles, flying by in her light green top and shorts, high-fiving toward the camera. Then Ms. Apa headed to Central Park, toward the finish line.

Back home in Lewisberry, Pa., Rachel’s father, Steve Apa, was tracking her on the marathon app, texting her encouragement at every mile. At Mile 18, Rachel texted back “Ow.” At 19, she texted back “Ow ow.”

At Miles 20 and 21 and 22, Rachel did not write back, but she kept running. “Final stretch,” Mr. Apa texted at Mile 23.

He never heard back.



Rachel Apa at Mile 14 of the New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Iran Issues Nuclear Attack Emergency Guidelines For Citizens

 Iran Issues Nuclear Attack Emergency Guidelines For Citizens | NewsX World

NewsX World

Nov 3, 2026 

Iranian media has published emergency instructions preparing citizens for a possible nuclear attack. The guidelines explain blast protection, radiation safety, indoor shelter procedures, decontamination measures and emergency supplies, urging people to follow official instructions.

Federal judge orders Iowa to allow Satanic Temple to hold one-day holiday event in the state Capitol

By JOSH KELETY and HANNAH FINGERHUT, Associated Press

Updated Nov 2, 2026 5:52 p.m.

FILE - The Iowa Capitol building is seen on Jan. 7, 2020, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall


DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered Iowa state officials to allow a local Satanic Temple organization to hold a holiday event in the rotunda of the state Capitol after years of rejecting their application.

The court order is the latest in a back-and-forth between the religious organization and Republican state officials, who intend to appeal the judge’s decision, according to Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office.

Iowa’s Republican leaders have barred the Satanic Temple Iowa's holiday observances in recent years, citing the state Capitol building’s policies that prohibit gratuitous violence and obscene displays.

The Satanic Temple and the leader of its Iowa organization in August sued the state in federal court, arguing that current and former Iowa officials discriminated against their religion by repeatedly refusing to permit their holiday event and violated their constitutional rights and state law.

Chief District Judge Stephanie M. Rose said in her order that the Satanic Temple was likely to succeed on its free speech claim and ordered the current director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to approve the group’s application for a holiday event within seven days.

Can You Survive 30 Days Without Power? Step-by-Step Survival Guide + Q&A

 

Florida Learjet crash victims identified; Private jet may have broken apart midair, NTSB says

Plane from Austin crashes in Florida: New details released | FOX 7 Austin

FOX 7 

Nov 2, 2026 

New details in the deadly private jet crash that killed nine people in Florida have been released. The flight departed from Austin, and now we are learning the identities of those on board, including a family and their two young children.

FOX7Austin brings you breaking news, weather, and local stories out of Central #Texas as well as fun segments from Good Day Austin, the best from our video vault archives, and exclusive shows like the Good Day Austin Round-Up and CrimeWatch

Ryan's Bird Buffet "Ground View" at Brownville's Food Pantry

Brownville's Food Pantry For Deer

Ryan's Bird Buffet "Ground View".   Feeding times vary.

The deer feeding will resume Dec 16th. Thank you all for a great 20 …

Joy Through Suffering with Christ | Our High Calling - November 3

Power Struggles

Volume 45 Issue Eleven November 2026

Last Trumpet Ministries ∙ PO Box 806 ∙ Beaver Dam, WI 53916

Phone: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org

“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” I Cor. 14:8

Power Struggles

“Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.” - Mark 13:33

On April 16, 2013, a dangerous act of sabotage that most folks have never heard about took place in Metcalf, California. Under the cover of darkness, at least two snipers took a position about thirty or forty yards away from its target - a power substation for Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). After receiving a signal by flashlight, the shooters began firing their high-powered rifles in a coordinated attack that would damage seventeen large power transformers. Remarkably, the shooters knew exactly where to aim, targeting the units’ oil-filled cooling systems, which would slowly drain out due to the damage and cause a power failure. Moments before the police arrived to investigate, there was another signal by flashlight; the shooting stopped, and the perpetrators were never caught. It took PG&E twenty-seven days to repair the damage. (1)

When the damage was discovered, PG&E called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to investigate. Jon Wellinghoff, who was then the chairman of the commission, was immediately alarmed by what he learned. He and his investigators walked the grounds where the attack transpired. He asked his men, “What do you think happened?” They replied, “Somebody put together a very carefully planned and very precisely executed attack on the substation. We don’t know who they are, but they were very highly trained.” (2)

Just months before the attack, Wellinghoff had ordered an analysis of the American power grid to find potential vulnerabilities. What the study found was quite alarming. “We came up with some very astounding numbers,” Wellinghoff recounted. The analysis found that if someone knocked out just nine critical substations in the Western, Eastern, and Texas Interconnections, they could potentially black out the entire United States. He estimates that such a blackout could last eighteen months or longer. (3)

Is Poland Having a COUP Right Now? What the Media Isn't Telling You!!!

 

Blackout in the Canary Islands: Could Spain Go Dark Again, and Take Europe With It?

Blackout in the Canary Islands: Could Spain Go Dark Again, and Take Europe With It?

KontexoNewsTV

Nov 2, 2026 

At 6:38 a.m. on November 2, 2026, the whole island of La Palma (Canary Islands) went dark: 50,508 customers without power for almost four hours in the middle of a storm, and an emergency alert from the Canary Islands government, which blames Endesa and Red Eléctrica and 50-year-old engines. One day earlier, 160,000 homes in Tenerife lost power. So can Spain's great blackout of April 28, 2025 happen again? And could the next one spread to Europe?

We explain what happened on La Palma and Tenerife, why the Canary Islands keep suffering total blackouts, what the final European report says really caused the 2025 Iberian blackout, what has changed since, the warning signs of 2026, how thin the Spain-France link is, and the night in 2006 when a blackout that started in Germany reached Madrid and Barcelona.

▶ If it happens, the first hours matter. Why governments want you to stock up for 72 hours:    • Why Governments Suddenly Want You to Stock...  

Recorded on November 2, 2026. Power on La Palma was fully restored at 10:26; the official cause is still under investigation.

EU says fridge attacks 'deliberate attempt to disrupt' bloc's food supply

 

EU says fridge attacks 'deliberate attempt to disrupt' bloc's food supply • 

FRANCE 24 English

France 24 is a French public broadcast service. Wikipedia 

Nov 2, 2026  

Grocery stores from Sweden to Portugal were hit Monday by a suspected cyberattack on their freezer systems, in what the EU denounced as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the bloc's food chain. Supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were among at least eight countries affected in the incident, which came three weeks after a cyberattack caused mass disruption in French grocery stores. Food retailers were forced to throw out produce that had spoiled or was at risk of spoiling after refrigerator temperatures soared overnight. FRANCE 24's Dave Keating reports from Brussels.

Why Are So Many Countries Suddenly Warning Their Citizens To Prepare For An Emergency And Stockpile Essential Survival Supplies?

Why Are So Many Countries Suddenly Warning Their Citizens To Prepare For An Emergency And Stockpile Essential Survival Supplies?

October 28, 2026 by Michael

What in the world is going on? Why are governments all over the planet suddenly encouraging their citizens to become preppers? Do they know something that they aren’t telling us? If it was just one nation that was suddenly instructing people to stockpile food, water and other essential supplies, that wouldn’t be a big deal. But it isn’t just one nation. As you will see below, quite a long list of countries have simultaneously decided that now is the time for everyone to get prepared. So what has prompted this sudden sense of urgency?

For some reason, governments in Europe seem to have more of a sense of urgency than anyone else…

Governments in the UK, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and France have encouraged households to keep food, water, medicines and other essentials available for emergencies.

I can’t recall a time when so many European governments have been so concerned about making sure that their citizens are prepared for an emergency.

In the UK, the “Be Ready campaign” has been launched.

Every citizen is being encouraged to stockpile at least enough food and bottled water to last for 72 hours…

Every Briton is being urged to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency.

The Be Ready campaign is aimed at persuading people to stock up with supplies to last 72 hours, amid growing official concern about the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency and hostile state threats.

Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said that “those who can follow this advice should follow this advice”. It amounted to “simple steps to be ready for everyday emergencies” as part of a wider, community-oriented effort “to improve our resilience as a nation”, he said.

So why has it suddenly become so important to do this?

The UK’s defense secretary is saying that it is because we “live in a more dangerous and turbulent world”…

It’s Not Just France. Europe’s Political Center Is Crumbling.

Europe’s centrist parties are losing ground among young people and workers, who are increasingly tempted by populist promises of radical change.

A burned-out vehicle on Rue Yves Toudic in Paris on Monday after a weekend of rioting.Credit...Kiran Ridley/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

By Steven Erlanger

Steven Erlanger, based in Berlin, writes about European politics and diplomacy.

Oct. 20, 2026

Centrist parties are in trouble in Europe’s largest and most important nations. Anger over low economic growth, high inflation, sizable government debt and poor prospects for the young are feeding protest and populist parties of the far right and far left.

The mass riots in France, which started as protests over underfunded schools, are a shocking example. But the phenomenon has been building for years, with the perceived failure of liberal democracy to make good on its promises of a better future, especially for the young and the salaried working class.

There is a growing perception among many Europeans that traditional parties of the center-left and center-right do not offer real alternatives and are led by an educated elite that has lost its connection to the poor, the workers and the young. Facing rising deficits, expenses and interest rates, governments feel constrained in what they can do to respond.

Instead, many people are supporting parties like the National Rally of Marine Le Pen, leading the polls for the French presidency on the far right, and France Unbowed of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, on the far-left, running second. In Germany, they are turning to the far-right Alternative for Germany and the far-left Die Linke party.

With major elections coming in the next year in four of Europe’s most populous states — Spain, France, Italy and Poland — there are significant challenges coming from more extremist parties. Even in Italy, where protests erupted over the weekend, the right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, faces a former general, Roberto Vannacci, who is running even further to the right.

German rioters loot shops as 'Gen Z' demos turn ugly

Frankfurt (Germany) (AFP) – Masked rioters looted shops in the German city of Frankfurt on Saturday as massive demonstrations turned violent across the country, with police also firing water cannons at youths hurling Molotov cocktails.

Issued on: 31/10/2026 - 21:08

Modified: 31/10/2026 - 23:42

Tensions peaked in the evening as some groups of young people refused to disperse © Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP


Several police officers were injured in the violence after tens of thousands joined youth-led protests across the country organised by the group "GenZ regelt!" (Gen Z has got this!).

The demonstrations, inspired by similar movements in France and Italy calling for political elites to heed the concerns of the younger generation, were largely peaceful during the day.

But tensions peaked in the evening as some groups of young people refused to disperse, with violence breaking out in major cities including Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg.

It was especially bad in the financial hub of Frankfurt, where police faced protesters hurling stones, fireworks and petrol bombs, and responded with water cannon and pepper spray.

Protests in Berlin turned violent after youth-led demonstrations earlier in the day © RALF HIRSCHBERGER / AFP

"Violent riots" were taking place, police said in a statement. "Windows have been smashed at several shops. Molotov cocktails are also being thrown at emergency personnel."