Merkel condemns G20 violence as protesters & police face-off in Hamburg

YemenExtra

Fresh scuffles between protesters and police marked the end of the G20 summit in Hamburg which, for several days and nights, has been engulfed by extremely violent riots that shocked even the organizers of the series of mass demonstrations in the German city.

The biggest event Saturday, attracted more than 50,000 left-wing activists who marched in a ‘G20-not welcome’ demonstration. While most of the march was peaceful, a group of about 120 people attacked officers with flagpoles, prompting police to use batons, pepper spray and water canons to control the crowd.

Four policemen were injured in a scuffle in Millerntorplatz where an additional 4,000 people gathered to mark the end of the two-day high profile gathering with a final rally.

There was considerably less violence Saturday, after organizers of Thursday and Friday’s “Welcome to Hell” street protests conceded that the anarchists’ protests had gone too far with their “senseless violence.”

Piles of debris, burned-out barricades, smashed shops and shattered glass transformed Hamburg into a scene resembling a battlefield by Saturday.