• Rioters attacked forces in most violent demonstration in 10 years
  • Fireworks were thrown at officers as well as paint and petrol bombs
  • Squatters protesting after being told to move out of cultural centre
German police suffered 117 casualties during the country's worst night of rioting for a decade near the infamous Reeperbahn in Hamburg.

Officials said police officers were pelted with petrol bombs, bricks, bottles and stones on Saturday night.

They were then attacked on the ground when they fell and 16 were hospitalised for their injuries. More than 80 rioters were injured and needed medical treatment in running battles.


'Rioters came back to attack fallen officers regardless of their injuries.'

Some 2,600 police were on duty in the port city battling 7,300 demonstrators protesting against the impending closure of a leftist culture centre called Rote Flora that has been occupied by squatters for years.

Black Block anarchists ( agent provocateurs) were among the marchers who, say authorities, arrived from all over Germany intent on a violent showdown with police.

One officer hit on the head with a stone remains seriously ill in hospital.

Police fought back with pepper spray, water cannon and truncheons in running skirmishes that saw the centre of Hamburg become a no-go zone from midday on Saturday until dawn on Sunday.

'From the beginning there was an aggressive mood and we were attacked massively', a police spokesman said. 'This was violence on a scale we haven't seen for years.'

The organisers of the march said in a statement: 'Through the overwhelming use of batons, pepper spray and water cannon there were numerous injuries.'

There were 19 arrests. Numerous windows were broken in surrounding properties including at an office of the centre-left Social Democrat political party, and several police vehicles were damaged.

The Rote Flora in the city's Schanzenviertel area was first occupied by squatters in 1989.

Over the years it has morphed into a rallying point for left-wing activists. Saturday's riot was triggered by the threat of eviction for squatters after the centre was bought from local authorities by a developer.

The Reeperbahn is nicknamed the Sin Mile because of the number of strip clubs, sex shops and brothels there.