HUNDREDS ARRESTED DURING VIOLENT BERLIN PROTESTS
Dozens of police officers were injured and hundreds arrested in one of Berlin’s most violent Labour Day protests in years, police said Sunday.
A demonstration by the far-left descended into violence after around 10,000 people gathered in the German capital’s Neukolln district on Saturday.
A total of 93 officers were injured during the evening, while 354 protesters were arrested. The protest’s organizers said that dozens of demonstrators had also been injured.
“I’m really angry at the number of police officers who have been injured,” Michael Muller, Berlin’s mayor, said yesterday. He added that it was important that Germans were still allowed to protest during the pandemic.
A city with a long history of unrest on May 1, Berlin’s Labour Day demonstrations have been largely peaceful in recent years, as authorities have managed to dilute the intensity of protests by organizing street parties. But with concerns due to the pandemic, the only public gatherings allowed this year were political demonstrations.
Violence was seen in several other German cities. In Frankfurt, anarchists shot fireworks at police officers who responded with water cannons.
In other Labour Day protests, authorities in Paris arrested 46 people at a demonstration against benefit changes.