Injuries as activists and police clash over Hamburg's Rote Flora center
Source: Deutsche Welle
There have been scenes of violence in Hamburg as protesters vented their anger at plans to carry out evictions at a theater. The building, home to squatters, has become a popular rallying point for activists.
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More than 100 police officers were said to have been injured in the violence.
An unspecified number of protesters were also hurt. "Through the overwhelming use of batons, pepper spray and water cannon, there were numerous injuries," said a statement by organizers.
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The Rote Flora centre - a theater in the city's Schanzenviertel area - was first occupied by squatters in 1989. Since then it has become something of a rallying point for left-wing activists, with regular summer protests coinciding with a local street fair. The latest protests were sparked by the threat of eviction for those living in the theater since it was bought from local authorities by a developer.
Read more: http://www.dw.de/injuries-as-activists-and-police-clash-over-hamburgs-rote-flora-center/a-17315992?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf
Very hard to find out how things unfolded precisely. The more detailed accounts say the march started peacefully, but when it was stopped by police wielding batons & pepper spray, a black bloc came to the front and things got so violent that most reports say "most violent protest in years". Police say some 5000 of the 7-8000 protesters were prepared for violence.
Here is Der Spiegel's report (only in German at the moment), it also has a video. Their photo series is here.
Here is the (conservative) Frankfurter Allgemeine about the protest. Their headline says "Riots in Hamburg - Anarchists injure 120 police officers".
And here's the (left-leaning) Sueddeutsche, which doesn't have the protest on its front page, but a search yielded the video "Riots into the night". They also have this article. IN it they say that the police stopped the demo and started to try and dissolve it after being attacked by the black block. 3200 police from several Bundesländer were present.
On edit: to be clear: I disavow black block tactics. Violence can not be the answer. But the key demands of the protesters were rights for immigrants (called "the lampedusa group"
and housing for everyone. These protests are yet another sign that pressure is building and doesn't know where to go.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's been active since 1989? They have no sense of their own history.
Thanks for posting this info.
