82 Police Hurt In Reeperbahn Riot

More than 80 German police officers were injured when a protest march along Hamburg’s Reeperbahn turned into a riot Dec. 21. An unknown number of protesters were also injured. More than 7,000 people were along the famous red-light street, where the city’s Reeperbahn Festival is held, protesting the closure of a left-wing cultural centre called Rote Flora.

Photo: Torklugnutz

in 2006.

The Rota Flora, which was once a theatre, also acts as a communal squat and a meeting point for left-wing activists.

Police claim that more than 4,500 of those gathered there were left-wing radicals.

Prior to the demonstration, police had declared parts of Hamburg’s inner city a “danger zone,” giving law enforcement extended rights to search and detain people without initial suspicion.

Hamburg police, who used water cannons to disperse the crowd, said the problem was caused when a static protest turned in to a march.

“The protesters suddenly started marching, and this was not what we agreed on with them, so we had to stop the march,” said Hamburg police spokesman Mirko Streiber. “Then bottles, stones and fireworks were thrown at us, injuring several officers. We had no option but to deploy water cannons.”

Police also claim that after the demo was broken up, about 1,000 protesters continued to roam the neighbouring streets and attacked supermarkets, banks and police officers.

In July, Hamburg had three days of rioting as police tried to separate competing rallies by an ultraconservative Muslim group and a small far-right march.