Many injured as German police block left-right clashes (Roundup)

May 1, 2009, 16:53 GMT

Berlin - German riot police struggled Friday to separate brawling neo-Nazis and leftist radicals holding opposed May Day demonstrations in several cities, with many injured in rioting in the southern city of Ulm.

Mounted officers of the Ulm police, water cannon and tear-gas were used to drive back militants running forward from a crowd of several thousand people who were angered at a parade by 1,000 far-rightists affiliated with the National Democratic Party (NPD).

As bottles and stones were thrown and scuffles broke out, many people and officers were injured, police said.

Witnesses saw people with blood streaming from head wounds. A German Press Agency dpa photographer was among the injured.

Leftists smashed parked cars and set alight rubbish bins, and downtown streets were strewn with glass as the mayhem escalated.

Police said at least 22 persons were detained. Elsewhere in Ulm, more than 10,000 people attended a peaceful rally organized by mainstream groups to protest at the arrival of the neo-Nazis in the city, which has a large Muslim minority.

The tiny, anti-foreigner NPD, which is supported by many neo- Nazis, portrays itself as a labour movement and schedules rallies on May 1, which is celebrated as a labour day holiday in many European nations by Social Democrats, communists and the far left.

Residents of Ulm voiced outrage that the NPD had obtained a marching permit on court orders after Ulm civic authorities had tried to ban the rightist parade for fear of violence.

'How could they allow a NPD demonstration here in the first place?' said Titiz Sevgi, 26.

The daytime clashes on May Day followed rioting by far leftists, many inflamed by alcohol and hostile to police, on Thursday night in Berlin and Hamburg with more than 50 arrests. Large forces of police were put on duty before the annual show of strength by the radicals.

Elsewhere in Germany, riot police arrested 40 rightists in Itzehoe, north-west of Hamburg, for refusing to disperse after 100 to 120 tried to stage a parade without any permit.

In the capital Berlin, police dragged away 100 leftists who tried to block a suburban railway station to obstruct a nearby NPD parade.

Police counted 1,800 demonstrators in another leftist crowd which hurled paint at the German Finance Ministry building, leaving 60 blotches on the facade.

One of the biggest anti-NPD demonstrations, by 12,000 people, was in the northern city of Hanover, where a NPD parade was banned. 

In Mainz, in the south-west, police arrested 50 leftists for throwing stones and smoke bombs at 100 parading rightists, while 200 masked rightists were detained in the western city of Dortmund for identity checks.

Trade unionists said the rightists had attacked them with clubs and stones.

In a small northern town, Verden an der Aller, witnesses said 500 inflamed leftists fought a running battle with riot police.