Berlin/Ingolstadt, Germany - German
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Monday that some
anti-capitalist protesters at the G20 summit in Hamburg at the
weekend were "criminal anarchists" who had acted like neo-Nazis
or Islamist terrorists.
De Maiziere, a member of Merkel's conservatives, said a
triple-digit number of foreigners intent on violence had
travelled to Hamburg from abroad for the protests while hundreds
of other left-wing extremists had been rejected at the borders.
He said it would make sense to have a European database on
left-wing extremists, who had spent up to two years preparing
for the summit and had secretly taken slingshots and other
objects to Hamburg long before the G20 leaders arrived.
Justice Minister Heiko Maas, a member of the Social
Democrats, the junior party in the ruling coalition, said
authorities had lacked relevant data from some European
countries about violent extremists who traveled to Hamburg.
Maas told German broadcaster NDR he backed creation of a
database of left-wing extremists, but said it could take a long
time to set up. In the meantime, countries should at least
exchange data about those convicted of violent acts, he said.
About 20,000 police struggled to contain several hundred
demonstrators who torched cars, looted shops and hurled Molotov
cocktails and stones during the July 7-8 summit. Tens of
thousands more people demonstrated peacefully.
The violence has angered Germans and raised awkward
questions for Chancellor Angela Merkel less than three months
before an election.
"The brutality with which extremely violent anarchists have
proceeded in Hamburg since Thursday is unfathomable and
scandalous," de Maiziere told reporters.
Militants who burned cars or plundered supermarkets were not
activists or G20 opponents but rather "despicable violent
extremists just like neo-Nazis and Islamist terrorists", the
interior minister said.
He added that people who had thrown paving slabs from
rooftops had essentially been "preparing attempted murder".
Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat (SPD) challenger to
Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany's national election in
September, said the militants had acted like terrorists.
He said the "marauding gangs" could not claim to have any
political legitimacy for their actions, adding: "It had the
characteristics of terrorism."
"Such small-minded skirmishes are the business of people who
took a whole city hostage for their dim-wittedness in an almost
terrorist manner," said Schulz, whose party is trailing Merkel's
conservatives in the opinion polls.
Police said almost 500 officers were injured during the
protests, with 186 people arrested and 225 taken into custody.
Some commentators have criticised Merkel's choice of
Hamburg, a seaport with a strong radical leftist tradition, to
host the meeting, saying her desire to demonstrate her
commitment to freedom of speech had backfired.
Merkel has promised compensation to those who had property
damaged.
De Maiziere said he expected judicial authorities to pass
tough sentences on the militants and added that breaching the
peace could result in prison sentences lasting several years.