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 Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers  May Day rioting rocks Berlin - for 17th year Thu May 1 2003 03:00:36 ET Berlin (dpa) - Leftist May Day rioters staged running street battles with police in Berlin early Thursday, marking the 17th year that violence has marred May 1 festivities in the German capital. Hundreds of masked youths smashed store windows and overturned cars in the Prenzlauer Berg district of the city. By dawn the rioting had spread down down Schoenhauser Allee in what used to be East Berlin. Some 2,500 police in riot gear moved in with batons and tear gas to to bring the violence to an end. But authorities said that, based on experience, more serious street violence was likely to occur again Thursday night, after May 1 parades and rallies. In all, more than 7,500 riot police are standing by in the German capital in a bid to counter what has become an annual rite of spring violence by left-wing extremists. Officers backed by water cannons hoped to keep the violence to a minimum in the Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg districts which are favoured by rioters. Police say they were especially concerned about a planned far-right protest on May Day itself which could become a focal point of clashes with leftists. At least 65 May Day demonstrations are planned in Berlin for Thursday most of them peaceful. But since the 1980s, far-leftists have used the public holiday as an occasion for pitched street battles. The first rioting occurred on May 1, 1987, when a left protesters took to the streets to protest against what they termed a ;bourgeois'' celebration of the 750th founding of the city of Berlin. The rioting has been repeated every year since 1987, first in West Berlin and then, following German unification in 1990, in both halves of united Berlin. Cars are often set ablaze and many residents move their vehicles to other parts of town for May Day. Supermarkets and shops have been plundered in the past. Many people, unassured by the police presence, barricade their windows. |
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