As reported yesterday, after the demonstration had begun peacefully, there were some heavy clashes with the police.

According to the police an attack on one of their vehicles was the reason for taking action against those suspected of having carried out the attack. The police were then heavily targeted with stones, bottles and fireworks. There were also a few molotov cocktails thrown towards the police.

The police did not act in a systematic way and charged into the demonstration again and again. Some of the people who threw stones were driven into the crowd of demonstrators who were watching the concert. Small groups of policemen stormed into the concert crowd and were quickly surrounded.

During this episode it was raining stones onto the police, but since they were surrounded by mostly peaceful demonstrators they couldn't do much. Some masked people continued hurling stones in the direction of the police regardless of the peaceful participants[1]. Many people were injured by these actions, some were seriously hurt.

The police initially was unable to bring the situation under control and it actually only calmed down when the police withdrew; but apparently some people from the socalled “Black Bloc”[2] pursued the police.

Because of the excessive behavior of the police during this episode more and more people joined the struggle.[3]

However, the reports of the press claiming that whole streets were ravaged have been rejected. The riots only unfolded in the harbour area. The stores in the shopping area “Kröpeliner Straße” and the McDonald's restaurant located only a few hundred meters away were completely unaffected. A reporter from CNN correctly declared that the material damage was relatively small. The violence was almost completely directed against the police. But also some banks and minor private property was damaged and cars were set on fire.


==Escalations during Reclaim The Streets party.==

Near Doberaner Platz up to 150 people were having an RTS party. A few streets away small groups of people had built small-sized barricades and a parasol was burned. When the police arrived they were attacked with stones and firework. Even though these events had nothing to do with the completely peaceful party, the police evacuated the street.

Meanwhile, the small groups of barricade builders had long left the scene and even though there were almost no people around Doberaner Platz the police thought it necessary to station water canons and an armored clearing-vehicle nearby. The police marched through the streets in groups of up to 50 but the situation remained calm afterwards.

Already the same evening the police was accused of acting in a disproportional manner and for attacking a journalist without reason.

[1] Translation editor's's note: This is a serious accusation and should not go unchallenged: who were these people and on whose behalf were they acting? Not knowing what strategies the German authorities deploy, I can only guess; but the story is reminiscent of Genova, 2001, where the authorities hired far-right wing thugs to provoke violence and cause property damage in order to justify the actions of the police. See, for instance:
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2002/07/36309.html?c=on

[2]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bloc

[3] This statement seems to contradict the statement noted in [1] - since who would fight alongside someone who throws stones at them?