Rioting in Hamburg over G20

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has hit out at protesters after chaos in the city of Hamburg as thousands of demonstrators clashed with police on the day the G20 summit opened.
US First Lady Melania Trump was earlier trapped inside her hotel after rioters firebombed a police station and set cars and buildings alight in the German city.
Police have called for reinforcements after tens of thousands of protesters descended on Hamburg, causing chaos.
President Donald Trump was forced to take a detour because of the widespread disorder.
Merkel said she could understand peaceful protests, but demonstrations that 'put peoples' lives in danger, put the protesters' own lives in danger... are unacceptable'.
Shocking footage shows smoke billowing from vehicles as the city hosting the G20 summit looked like a warzone.
German police confirmed this morning that the police station had been targeted by 'perpetrators of violence', as thousands of officers flood the streets anticipating violent demonstrations.
It comes after more than 70 people were injured in clashes between riot police and anti-capitalists last night, with a march named 'Welcome to Hell' descending into chaos.


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This is seriously NOT good for Germany's image, and there is no point in Merkel wringing her hands about it being 'unacceptable'.

The hard Left, anarchists, antifa and other detritus riot at these things whenever they get half a chance, as she should know.

And whatever they may think of Trump as a person, I can't see too many Americans being happy about the First Lady being treated like this.

Dozens of fires were started across the city during widespread disorder which delayed the arrival of world leaders and forced their spouses to remain indoors amid security fears

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What the HELL was Merkel thinking of, holding it in the middle of a city, which is a security nightmare in itself, and a magnet for malcontents.

Protesters attempted to blind police officers shining incredibly powerful lasers directly at them - the protesters have even used the lasers on police helicopters flying above the city trying to monitor the movements of anarchist activists

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4674100/G20-protestors-FIREBIOMB-police-station-Hamburg.html#ixzz4mE4N23mU
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While that was going on in the streets of Hamburg, Merkel was inflicting Ode to Joy on her G20 guests.

She may well imagine she's Empress of Europe, but the reality is she can't even control a major German city.

Just for interest my second son is on duty in Hamburg .... LL

Oh Lord....I don't envy him, LL, tell him to stay safe. And turn the water cannon up to Max...

Peaceful protests mark end of G-20 summit hours after riots



HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg on Saturday, hours after masked rioters clashed with police, burned cars and looted businesses.

Marching on a route close to where some of the worst violence unfolded overnight, protesters chanted, sang, danced and played music as world leaders wrapped up their two-day summit in the German port city.

An eclectic crowd of families pushing baby carriages, Kurdish groups, Scottish socialists and anarchists waving flags and shouting anti-capitalist slogans progressed through the city accompanied by thousands of police officers.

Despite the mayhem late Friday and early Saturday, many officers patrolling the march removed their helmets and appeared relaxed as the huge crowds passed by. Organizers said some 78,000 demonstrators participated, while police estimated the crowds at about 50,000.

The big gathering came after aggressive riots overnight in the city's Schanzenviertel neighborhood, which is only a few hundred meters (yards) away from the summit grounds. Hundreds of special riot police went into buildings to arrest rioters wearing black masks from rooftops while being attacked with iron rods and Molotov cocktails. About 500 people looted a supermarket in the neighborhood as well as smaller stores. Cars were torched and street fires lit as activists built barricades with garbage cans and bikes.

A few thousand rioters, some of them from elsewhere in Europe, created havoc in the city. They battled riot police for two consecutive days and nights, expressing rage against capitalism and globalization and calling for open borders to let all refugees enter Europe.

Their anger was not so much focused against President Donald Trump or other leaders, but directed against police as symbols of authority. Police arrested 143 people, and 122 activists were temporarily detained. Some 213 officers were injured since the protests started Thursday night. Police and firefighters said they did not have information about how many protesters and other civilians were hurt.

I wonder if Merkel grasps how much damage these riots have done Germany? She really is a fool of a woman, and God help us now she's decided she's leader of the 'free world'.

Think back to the get-togethers in the UK, in Cardiff and Gleneagles. Security was annoyingly tight, but at least pictures didn't go all over the world of scum burning the place down.

Quite a good piece:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/08/hamburg-counts-cost-two-nights-of-violence-looting-destruction

Two nights of rioting, looting and transport chaos left many residents asking why their government had decided to hold the annual summit of leading economies in a densely populated city with such a strong tradition of counter-cultural protest.

At a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel was confronted with the suggestion that the chaotic scenes on the conference fringes represented an “embarrassment” on a par with the New Year’s eve assaults on women in Cologne.

Germany is a big place; I am sure Merkel could have found someplace more secure to hold it.