Berlin Protests Leave 123 Police Officers Injured, 83 Arrested
MEP: Some 123 police officers were injured and a total of 86 civilians detained during leftist riots in the German capital which police called “the most aggressive and violent protests in the last five years”.
According to police officials, the casualties occurred on Saturday night following weeks of escalating tensions around a squatted building which is a popular meeting point for left-wing youth activists in Berlin.
An estimated 3,500 far-left radicals clashed with police in the Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg neighborhoods and during the night that followed. They were opposed by some 1,800 security personnel. Police units came to Berlin from at least four different federal parts of Germany.
Violence erupted as protesters started hurling rocks and bottles at the security personnel, smashing shop windows and setting cars on fire, police said.
Squatters are refusing to leave part of a block of flats at 94 Rigaer Strasse. Since June, squads of police have been monitoring the building day and night, with helicopters circling overhead.
