May Day violence in Berlin results in 139 arrests, leaves 175 police officers injured

BERLIN (AP) _ Berlin police said Friday they arrested 139
people during May Day clashes in which youths set cars
alight and threw stones and bottles, down slightly on last
year's figure, while 175 officers suffered light injuries.
Police kept their presence low-key at leftist
demonstrations Thursday in a strategy intended to reduce
tension and help prevent the violence that has marred May
Day in the German capital every year since 1987.
The protests went peacefully, but scuffles started around
dusk in the western Kreuzberg district, a traditional
flashpoint, and police moved in with truncheons, tear gas
and water cannons to disperse an estimated 1,300 rioters.
Eighteen cars were torched during the clashes.
"We can't be happy with these results," the city's top
security official, Ehrhart Koerting, told ZDF television.
He promised to examine how the police response can be
speeded up next year.
While authorities failed to put an end to Berlin's
tradition of May Day rioting, the clashes have diminished
in intensity over the past two years. Last year, 158 people
were arrested _ a sharp drop from 600 detentions on May
Day, 2001, when police drew heavy criticism for using
massive force against rioters.
In a prelude to May Day itself, groups of youths threw
bottles and stones at police early Thursday morning in
another Berlin district, injuring 29 officers deployed
without protective gear. Those clashes resulted in 103
arrests.
(gm-me)