Hamburg explodes
PROTESTERS THROW PETROL BOMBS, SET FIRE TO PATROL CARS Venue for talks heavily guarded as violence flares.
Protesters clashed with police, torched patrol cars and blocked roads in the German city of Hamburg yesterday in fresh violence just before the start of the G20 summit, police said.
“An operation is under way against violent individuals” who threw petrol bombs and set fire to patrol cars near a police station in the city’s Altona district, federal police said on Twitter.
In the west of the city, a “plume of black smoke” was rising, and cars in some areas had been set alight, the local Hamburg police said separately.
Police said demonstrators had blocked several intersections and so-called transfer corridors – roads designated to help delegations move between meetings.
On Thursday, a planned peaceful march by about 12 000 people protesting against globalisation turned violent.
At least 76 police officers were injured, said a Hamburg police spokesperson.
The clashes occurred as leaders from the world’s 20 biggest developed and emerging economies were to begin a two-day meeting focusing on trade, terrorism, climate change and other key issues.
Hamburg, a vibrant port city, is a citadel of leftwing radicals and authorities have long been bracing for possible violence on the sidelines of the summit.
The German police officers’ union GdP yesterday hit out at anarchist groups called the Black Blocks, accusing them of “hijacking peaceful demonstrations by tens of thousands of people to deliberately attack” police.
American President Donald Trump’s “America First” and climate-sceptic stance are set to test the relationship with longstanding allies, while North Korea adds more volatility to global security.
Scenes outside the heavily guarded conference hall were also stormy, as anti-globalisation protesters fought running battles overnight with police, who fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse extreme-left Black Bloc militants late on Thursday.
Trump alarmed Western partners with his pledge on the campaign trail to have a “great relationship with Putin”. – AFP