Clashes between far-left activists and police left dozens injured this weekend in Leipzig, incidents denounced on Sunday by German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. Protesters blocked streets, set fires on public roads and threw projectiles at security forces, in response to prison sentences imposed by German justice this week against four extreme activists LEFT.
About 50 police officers were injured during the protests, which began on Friday evening, including three officers who were declared “unfit for duty”, according to a statement from the Leipzig police. The police made around 30 arrests and more than 50 people were remanded in custody before being released. “This senseless violence by far-left anarchists and rioters is unjustifiable,” the minister said in a statement.
“Free Lina”
Hundreds of people joined the protests after far-left activists called for a day of action in Leipzig on Saturday. On Wednesday, a court in Dresden sentenced a student from Leipzig, Lina E., and three other far-left activists to terms of several years in prison.
The group was found guilty of attacks on neo-Nazis and suspected far-right activists between 2018 and 2020. Since her arrest in 2020, Lina E. has become a symbol, with the slogan “Free Lina” regularly appearing in protests far left, according to German media.