After the judgment against Lina E. for left-wing extremist acts of violence, there were renewed clashes between the police and demonstrators in Leipzig on Sunday night. The police were deployed in large numbers, helicopters were circling over the city, and barricades were burning in several places in the Connewitz district.
In the late afternoon, stones, bottles and an incendiary device were thrown at police officers during a demonstration in the south of Leipzig. Several officers were injured. The police surrounded some of the demonstrators and spoke of “massive riots”. According to the police, around 1,500 participants had gathered for the demonstration, a third of whom were believed to be violent. 100 demonstrators were registered. Several water cannons were launched, but were not used.
Police encircle demonstrators in Leipzig
According to a police spokesman, an estimated 500 people were surrounded. In the evening, the personal details of those trapped were started to be recorded. The police held the demonstrators in the early hours of the morning.
The left criticized the actions of the police. Her parliamentary secretary in the Saxon state parliament, Marco Böhme, accused the police on Twitter of having allowed the situation to escalate with the “actual ban”. He also criticized the fact that those trapped were sometimes stuck for hours. Police said everyone involved was being cared for. There is also the option of using a mobile toilet.
“The state has the monopoly on the use of force!”
The CDU member of parliament Sebastian Fischer defended the mission: “The monopoly on the use of force lies with the state! Anyone who uses violence feels the consequences,” said the politician via Twitter. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, who visited the situation center with Interior Minister Armin Schuster (both CDU) in the afternoon, thanked the police for their efforts. “The goal is to protect people and property and arrest violent criminals,” said the CDU politician on Twitter in the afternoon.