The sad thing about these riots, though, is, that at the same time the riots caught all the attention, there were tens of thousands of people protesting peacefully at other places in the city. Throughout the week there were also some very creative ways to protest (like "1000 Gestalten").

Yeah that's definitely sad. But unfortunately the media will often favor the more sensational protest. A more cynical explanation would be that the media intends to paint the picture of protests as radical, violent affairs, of only a small number of people, to discredit them in the eyes of the general public. Which probably isn't too far from the truth if you look at the way Occupy wallstreet was handled by the media and the state (for example: 9/10 people will say that OWS didn't know what they wanted, when their message was very clear: get money out of politics).

I'd much rather see peaceful protests like the Monday protests that helped topple the East German regime in the late 80s. Way more effective. Or maybe no longer. I don't know.

I'd also prefer peaceful protests. Always better to take the high road. But I can understand the frustration.