Already on Saturday night there were riots in Leipzig by the left-wing radical scene. Saturday was initially largely peaceful before the situation escalated again in the evening.
In Leipzig on Saturday after the verdict against Lina E. for left-wing extremist acts of violence, there were renewed clashes between the police and demonstrators. At a demonstration at Alexis-Schumann-Platz there were gunshots, stones, bottles and an incendiary device were thrown at police officers.
The police surrounded some of the demonstrators and spoke of “massive riots” in the south of Leipzig. A spokesman said several water cannons were positioned but not used.
Several officers were injured
According to the police, around 1,500 participants gathered for the demonstration on Saturday afternoon, a third of whom were violent. 100 demonstrators were registered. The meeting initially remained peaceful, but then escalated. Several officers were hit and injured by stones and other projectiles, a police spokesman said on Saturday evening. The police initially gave no information on the exact number of injured officers.
“The situation on Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse is becoming unsettled. Our forces are repeatedly attacked and thrown at with stones/pyrotechnics,” the police wrote on Twitter on Saturday evening. One appeals to all people there to distance themselves from criminals and to behave peacefully. “Bystanders are asked to leave or avoid the area.”
Left-wing circles were mobilized nationwide for the demonstration on Saturday. The reason is the verdict against Lina E. and three co-defendants for attacks on alleged or actual neo-Nazis, in which several people were injured, some seriously. The 28-year-old was sentenced to five years and three months in prison by the Dresden Higher Regional Court on Wednesday.
The situation initially remained peaceful until the afternoon. Despite the final ban on a large “Day X” demonstration by the radical left-wing scene, the police were present in large numbers in the city. The Saxony Cup final, the city festival and a concert by Herbert Grönemeyer also took place in the city. There were checkpoints all day long on access roads to the city and at the train station. Several vehicles and garbage cans were on fire early Saturday afternoon.
Urgent application in Karlsruhe unsuccessful
The “Day X” demo was supposed to take place on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. on Wolfgang-Heinze-Strasse. However, the city banned them. The ban had been confirmed by both the Administrative Court of Leipzig and the Saxon Higher Administrative Court. A constitutional complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court was also unsuccessful. She was not accepted for decision.
After the riots, the left criticized the actions of the police. Your head of parliament in the Saxon state parliament, Marco Böhme, accused the police on Twitter of having allowed the situation to escalate with the “actual ban”. The left-wing member of the state parliament Kerstin Köditz criticized the decision not to let the demonstrators go. “De-escalation sees things differently,” said the politician on Twitter. The left-wing alliance “Dresden Nazifrei” described the behavior of the police as “martial”.
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 to arrest violent criminals,” said the CDU politician on Twitter.
Burning barricades
There had already been riots in Connewitz on Friday evening. Masked people had attacked police officers. After the initially peaceful course of a meeting on Wiedebachplatz in the Connewitz district, stones were thrown out of a crowd of up to 700 hooded people and pyrotechnics were ignited. Barricades made of rubbish bins and construction site barriers burned both there and in side streets. The police used tear gas and, according to their own statements, objects were thrown at them from the roofs of houses.
Most of the burning barricades were extinguished shortly after midnight, some with the help of water cannons. According to initial findings, 23 officers were injured. One of them was treated in the hospital. A journalist was reportedly attacked by an unknown person and slightly injured. 17 police vehicles were damaged. Eight vehicles were set on fire, including residents’ cars, sources said.
Damage “in the high five-digit sum” was caused at a bank branch, the police said. It is determined, among other things, because of serious breaches of the peace. According to the information, five suspects were arrested and three people were taken into custody.
Source: Stern
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