Leftists vie with neo-Nazis to hold Berlin streets (1st Lead)

May 1, 2010, 16:42 GMT

Berlin - Fearing riots Saturday, police separated leftist and neo-Nazi demonstrators who spent hours vying for control of May Day demonstration routes through the German capital Berlin.

Violence, with brawls between leftists and rightists, burning barricades and damage to banks and shops, has been an annual ritual for more than two decades in Berlin, Hamburg and other German cities. May Day is a public holiday celebrating workers' rights.

About 500 of the far-rightists, outnumbered by thousands of opponents, marched through a northern quarter of the capital.

Their 6-kilometre route had been approved by police under German laws protecting the constitutional right of everyone to demonstrate.

The parade began hours late after leftists sat in the road. The distance was reduced when it became impossible to clear streets.

Riot police man-handled some of those obstructing the Berlin route, among them the deputy speaker of the German parliament, Wolfgang Thierse, a Social Democrat. But in the end, police told the rightists to turn round and march back the way they had come.

Another 300 far-rightists, including associates from Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic, suddenly showed up in another part of the city, apparently intent on an unauthorized march down the major Kurfuerstendamm boulevard of the city. Police detained 200 of them.

Police clashed with 150 far-left demonstrators in the port city of Hamburg in the early hours of Saturday, detaining seven.

Police said the Hamburg violence left 13 police injured as well as a passer-by hit on the head by a stone.