Police blast water cannon at demonstrators
HAMBURG, Germany: German police fired water cannon and pepper spray at protesters gathered to demonstrate against a G-20 Summit in Hamburg after a group of black-clad demonstrators threw bottles and other objects at riot police.
Police expected around 100,000 protesters from around Europe, who say the G-20 has failed to solve many of the issues threatening world peace, to gather for the demonstration dubbed “Welcome to Hell” by the anti-capitalist groups behind it.
Demonstrators gathered at a riverside plaza used for Hamburg’s weekly fish market before setting off on the march through the city.
Police earlier called on demonstrators to remove masks.
Hamburg has boosted its police with reinforcements from around the country for the summit, so that 20,000 officers are on hand to patrol the northern German city’s streets, skies and waterways.
Protesters accuse the authorities of turning Germany’s second city into a “police fortress” and restricting their constitutional right to assemble and demonstrate.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that while peaceful demonstrations must be respected, “those who use violence mock democracy.”
Up to 100,000 demonstrators are expected before and during the G-20 meeting that starts Friday and will bring US President Donald Trump, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and other leaders to the city.
Trump arrived in Hamburg Thursday to attend what is expected to be the most fractious G-20 summit in years.
The US leader, accompanied by his wife Melania, was greeted by the mayor of the northern city-state, Olaf Scholz, on arrival at Hamburg airport where Trump and the US First Lady boarded a US military helicopter for the city center.
Trump’s “America First” stance and climate skepticism have rattled Western allies who have pledged to uphold free trade principles and implement the 2015 Paris climate accord.
On the sidelines of the G-20 gathering of leaders, Trump will also meet face-toface with Putin on Friday for the first time in a closely watched meeting.
Hamburg, hosting its largest-ever international meeting, has deployed some 20,000 police around the event sites, equipped with riot gear, armored vehicles, helicopters and surveillance drones.
A holding center for detainees has been set up with space for 400 people and detention judges are on hand.
Some 30 demonstrations have been announced before and during the meeting, organized by anti-globalization activists and environmentalists, trade unions, students and church groups.
Late Thursday, police were investigating a fire at a local Porsche dealership in which eight luxury vehicles went up in flames.
Hamburg has banned rallies from the inner city and along access roads to the airport, forcing marchers into harborside areas of St. Pauli and Altona, away from the G-20.
The city says it won’t be taking any chances as it must protect leaders, some 10,000 delegates and almost 5,000 media workers from both the threat of terrorist attacks and the street protests.
Tourists Claudia Keller, 60, and her partner Werner Hofes, 57, tried to enjoy the downtown Alster lake view from a park bench Thursday as police sirens filled the air, the nearby railway tracks were sealed off with razor wire and helicopters buzzed overhead.
“Had we known this when we booked, we wouldn’t have come — we can’t really go anywhere,” said Keller, a medical lab assistant from a town near Essen, visiting Hamburg since Monday and happy to be leaving Friday.
Mega-summits like the G-20 have in recent years usually been held in remote locations, but Germany was forced by its logistical demands to host it in a large city with a big venue and dozens of hotels.
Neil Dwane, a strategist for Allianz Global Investors, said Hamburg was an “unfortunate” choice.