"Scenes of civil war", "unprecedented violence" ... Political condemnations are raining in Germany after looting of shops and clashes between several hundred young people and the police in Stuttgart on the night of Saturday to Sunday.
More than a dozen police officers were slightly injured and around twenty people were arrested during the urban violence which, according to local authorities, broke out after a police check at around midnight for a drug case which had degenerated.
"More than a dozen police officers" slightly injured
Several hundred young people, up to 500, then headed in small groups to the city center to spread chaos for several hours. Often wearing hoods to avoid being identified, they "then severely damaged police cars parked on the street by breaking their windows with iron bars and poles," police said in a statement. .
They "threw stones and paving stones removed from the public highway or from construction sites towards other vehicles of the police forces which circulated", and attacked members of the police forces. In total "more than a dozen police officers" were slightly injured on this occasion, she added.
Similar events the previous nights
On their way, the rioters also smashed several shop windows, while store fronts were looted, in particular on one of the main shopping arteries of the metropolis, as various amateur videos circulating on social networks show. The local public television channel SWR speaks in particular of a jewelry store, a fast food establishment or a cell phone store. Calm did not return until around 3 a.m. (GMT) after the arrival of police reinforcements. Up to 280 members of the security forces were mobilized.
Update: Laut Polizei sei eine Polizeikontrolle anlässlich eines Rauschgiftdelikts Auslöser der erheblichen Randale in #Stuttgart gewesen. Die neusten Entwicklungen zur Krawallnacht gibt es in unserem Live-Blog: https://t.co/cvbTr25LO2 https://t.co/HQkn7XP6P0
- SWR Aktuell BW (@SWRAktuellBW) June 21, 2020Unlike other countries in Europe, or the United States, this type of urban violence is very rare in Germany. The shock among political leaders was all the greater. Local politician of the Social Democratic Party in Stuttgart, Sascha Binder, spoke of "scenes worthy of a civil war" and "street fighting", asking that all the light be shed on the "horrible night that has known Stuttgart ”.
The head of government of the region, Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of the country, Winfried Kretschmann, denounced "the brutal eruption of violence" and "criminal acts". Its Interior Minister, Thomas Strobl, has promised heavy sanctions. "The violence we experienced during the night in Stuttgart is of unprecedented scale" in the region, he told the daily Die Welt . Similar incidents had already occurred in the previous weekends in the city but were of a much smaller magnitude.
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