Quote:Anti-G8 rally turns violent - 500 injured

Rostock, Germany (dpa) - German police Sunday counted 433 injured officers and around 60 demonstrators seeking hospital treatment, following an anti-G8 rally in the northern city of Rostock that erupted into a full-scale riot.

Police said 30 of the officers had suffered serious injuries including broken bones, as around 2,000 violent protestors among the estimated 30,000 at the rally tore up paving stones to hurl at police and threw petrol bombs.

The organizers put the number participating in the rally, under the slogan, "Another World is Possible," at 80,000. The protest was aimed at the G8 summit scheduled to begin Wednesday at the resort of Heiligendamm some 25 kilometres away.

Both police and organizers said an unprovoked attack on a police vehicle had sparked the violence, but the organizers were critical of subsequent police tactics.

"The police did not contribute to de-escalation," said Monty Schaedel, spokesman for the Rostock Action Alliance. He called the police response "clumsy and unprofessional."

The ancient Hanseatic port enjoyed a relatively peaceful night after police re-established order at around nightfall, bringing in reinforcements. Several cars were overturned and burnt out, and shop windows were smashed during Saturday's protest.

Lorenz Caffier, interior minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, condemned the violence.

"The image of thousands of peaceful demonstrations was destroyed by 2,000 vicious thugs from the violent political subculture," he said.

Police were reported to have arrested some 100 demonstrators, holding most of them only until the violence had passed.

Rostock was hosting another political protest linked to the G8 Sunday, with a rally against gene technology and a march to a local gene research institute.

Bangkok Post June 3, 2007

Reading about it in German newspapers it even sounds worse. Bangkok Post mentioned a high number of injured policemen but played the number of injured protesters down very much. Talk is of almost 1000 altogether. Looks like some cops had a blast: