German Interior Minister condemns leftwing G20 violence and calls for database of left extremists

Record ID: 898792

  • Title: German Interior Minister condemns leftwing G20 violence and calls for database of left extremists
  • Date: 10th July 2017
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (JULY 10, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER THOMAS DE MAIZIERE, SAYING: "When the police separate protesters who are illegally disguising themselves from others in the crowd, they are fulfilling their legal duty. One should be able to expect that protesters do not protect those who disguise their appearance, and therefore prevent the police from being able to distinguish them."
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2017 14:09
  • Keywords: De Maiziere G20 left extremism protests violence police
  • Location: BERLIN + HAMBURG, GERMANY
  • City: BERLIN + HAMBURG, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: G20,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0056P4UGQV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Politicians from the governing parties in Germany on Monday (July 10) called for the introduction of a database of left-wing extremists in the aftermath of left-wing violence during the G20 summit in Hamburg.
    German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he thought the idea was in principle a good one.
    The government has been forced to defend her choice of Hamburg, saying other cities, like London, had hosted similar meetings. Hamburg, a seaport which is Germany's second biggest city, has a strong radical leftist tradition. It was also home to an al Qaeda cell that carried out the 9/11 attacks on U.S. targets in 2001.
    "Summits of this kind will continue to take place in Germany's major cities," de Maiziere told a government news conference.
    "As a democracy we must be totally united. We must not allow extremists any place in our society."
    De Maiziere, who said that it seemed beyond doubt that certain protesters had been organising the violence at least two years in advance also said that despite roadblocks ahead of the event, international perpetrators prone to violence had made their way in from northern and southern Europe.
    About 20,000 police struggled to contain several hundred anti-capitalist militants who torched cars, looted shops and hurled Molotov cocktails and stones during the July 7-8 summit. Tens of thousands more people demonstrated peacefully.
    Overall, 476 officers suffered injuries ranging from cuts and firework burns to eye damage from laser pointers. Police said on Sunday they had arrested 186 people and took 225 into custody.
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