Europe

Europe

92 Germans arrested in Poland rallies

13 November 2011 05:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA.Polish police have arrested 210 people, including 92 Germans, who clashed with the security forces during rallies marking Poland’s Independence Day in the country’s capital, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Officers in full riot gear, armed with shields and truncheons, used tear gas canisters and water cannons on demonstrators attending the Friday marches in Warsaw, AFP reported.

Masked demonstrators hurled rocks and bottles back at the law enforcement agents.

"They (demonstrators) were aggressive towards passers-by and when surrounded by the police they were aggressive towards the officers," said police spokesman Maciej Karczynski.

A Dane, a Hungarian, and a Spaniard were reportedly other foreigners detained during the unrest.

On Saturday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described those, who had engaged in clashes with the police, as â€œcommandoes imported from Germany and other nations.â€

Germany’s Ambassador to Poland Ruediger Freiherr von Fritsch said the violence had been unjustified.

â€œI am sorry that, at the moment Poland was celebrating freedom, some chose to abuse it. Freedom doesn’t justify recourse to violence -- not in your own country and not in a host country,â€ he said.

On November 11, 1918, the Republic of Poland was reborn, having been wiped off the map of Europe for 123 years in a three-way carve-up between Tsarist Russia, Prussia -- a former German state in northern Europe -- , and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.