After the conviction of the alleged left-wing extremist Lina E., there were demonstrations in several German cities by supporters of the convicts. Sometimes there were riots.
The Dresden Higher Regional Court had sentenced Lina E. to five years and three months in prison for several attacks on right-wing extremists. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old student is released after two and a half years in custody: the arrest warrant was suspended under certain conditions. She only has to serve the remainder of the sentence if the verdict is final – the court allowed an appeal.
In the court and in front of it there was support for the young woman and her three co-defendants on Wednesday. After the verdict, riots were initially feared. It was unclear in the evening whether the lifting of the arrest warrant would help ease the situation. Parallel to the pronouncement of the verdict, several hundred demonstrators passed through on Wednesday evening Dresden.
In Leipzig gathered later that evening to report the Leipziger Volkszeitung according to “a few hundred people” to demonstrate. The police stopped the protest procession because the assembly authorities had ordered a stand rally due to the high number of participants. The initially peaceful atmosphere is said to have become more aggressive in the course of the evening. “There are clear calls in the direction of the police,” says the report. There is also talk of throwing bottles, pictures show ignited pyrotechnics. According to the dpa news agency, officials were attacked with it. Larger protests are expected in the city on Saturday, and the police are preparing for riots.
Out of Bremen Riots were reported in the city center. Around 300 people, most of whom were masked, gathered at the Steintor and then attacked emergency services “relatively quickly and suddenly,” said a police spokeswoman. Glass bottles and stones were thrown at police officers, and pyrotechnics were also set off. The police spokeswoman was initially unable to provide any information about possible injuries. The officials called on the population to avoid the area.
In Berlin several hundred sympathizers from the left-wing scene took to the streets. They moved from the State Criminal Police Office on Tempelhofer Damm in the Tempelhof district in the direction of Gneisenaustrasse in Kreuzberg. The police put the number of participants at around 500. The demonstration was largely peaceful, and there were also some scuffles, it said.
A police chief in Hamburg spoke in a first estimate of about 2000 participants of a demo. People moved through the Schanzenviertel from the left center of the Rote Flora. On banners they demanded, among other things, “Fight their class justice – it hit some people, we are all meant”. During their march, the demonstrators were accompanied by numerous police officers, and water cannons were ready.