News / Germany

123 German police officers injured in clashes with left-wing protesters

Sunday, 10 July 2016 6:00 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 10 July 2016 6:00 PM ]

German policemen stand in front of a flashpoint building during left-wing protests in the capital, Berlin, July 9, 2016. (AFP)

At least 123 German police officers have been injured in clashes with thousands of left-wing protesters in Berlin.

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 the capital.

Police said violence erupted as protesters started hurling rocks and bottles at the security personnel deployed in Friedrichshain district, smashing shop windows and setting cars on fire.

The flashpoint building, located in the center of the German capital, is regarded as a gathering spot for those who are opposed to rising rents and the gentrification of Berlin.

Reports said some 1,800 officers had been sent to confront the 3,500-strong crowd, adding that the officers were forced to use batons and tear gas as the situation worsened.

Burned cars stand in Berlin, on July 10, 2016, after police in the German capital clashed with left-wing protesters. (Photo by AFP)

Berlin police described the Saturday night's protest as the city's "most aggressive and violent demonstration in the past five years."

"Eighty-six protesters were temporarily detained, with three facing a magistrate on charges of breach of the peace," police said.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Friedrichshain has seen massive gentrification, with property prices and rents on the rise. Many saw the occupied building as one of the last bastions of a cheap, peaceful and less capitalistic Berlin.

The authorities have repeatedly tried to evacuate people from the house, resulting in months of anti-government rhetoric and reports of violence mostly attributed to far-left extremists.

Over the past weeks, the leftists have instigated street violence to show their opposition to the round-the-clock surveillance on the meeting place.

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