Europe

Home page

Europe

Occupy activists clash with police in Frankfurt, demonstration due on weekend

19 May 2012 00:17 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. More than 1,000 Blockupy (Block and Occupy) activists took to the street and some 400 protesters were briefly arrested by police in Frankfurt on Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The demonstration was largely peaceful but was scarred by isolated incidents. The activists set up barricades, held sit-ins, blocked the road traffic, and clashed with over 5,000 police deployed to contain the mass protests.

The protesters sought to bar the access to the headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) in the downtown of this financial center of Europe and even tried to overcome police barricades.

The square in front of the ECB Headquarters and a large areas around it have been cordoned off by police, as water cannons were reportedly put into position in a face-off with up to 150 Blockupy activists demonstrating on the site.

A series of minor incidents had occurred over the previous night, as one police patrol car was set on fire by sneak raids, while the facade windows of a bank filiale were smashed, police said, noting it remained unclear if these attacks were connected with the Blockupy protests.

Despite the police ban on the protests, organizers had reportedly called on the demonstrators to march toward the city center via Twitter.

"The overall operation of the financial district has come to a standstill," an activist said.

The Green Party in Frankfurt voiced their objection toward the "total prohibition of Blockupy protests," as the non-violent protests showed that "the fears of the security agencies were not yet turned into reality, and the right to expression freedom will always be an important right even under difficult situations," the party leader Martin Feldmayer said.

Over 30,000 people are expected to take part in the already-approved demonstration due on Saturday, and local police are on alert for any potential violent attacks.