Hamburg police said Friday they asked for additional police forces to come to the city to ensure order during the Group of 20 summit.
“The reason is simply that we need more colleagues,” a police spokeswoman said. “The safety of the G-20 delegation is, however, ensured.”
The protests Friday morning delayed some delegations’ arrivals to the summit’s location in the city center. An appearance of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble at a public G-20 event was canceled due to security reasons. G-20 finance ministers are meeting separately from the country’s leaders.
A video posted on Twitter by a reporter for the German mass-market Bild daily on Friday morning showed about a dozen parked cars burning on Elbchausee, one of the fanciest addresses in Hamburg. Clouds of black smoke could be seen hanging over the city.
German politicians have voiced concern for months that violence could accompany the Group of 20 summit. The annual meeting of world leaders typically draws anti-globalization protests, but this year tensions are particularly high—with Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan all provoking discontent. In addition, the meeting is taking place in the middle of a northern German metropolis that has long been a hot spot for anarchists.
Clashes started Thursday evening when 12,000 people joined a protest dubbed “Welcome to Hell” in the alternative St. Pauli neighborhood, including over 1,000 who covered their faces—which is against the law at demonstrations in Germany. As officers ordered people to uncover their faces, some of the protesters responded aggressively with bottles, sticks, and metal rods, according a statement from the Hamburg police. Officers responded with water cannons, pepper spray, and batons, the police said.
In what officials have been described as the city’s largest police action in history, some 20,000 officers are on the ground to provide security for the 36 summit delegations and roughly 6,500 participants. Security officials said they expected 8,000 potentially violent, left-wing extremists to travel to Hamburg.
Around 16 political rallies against the G-20 have been planned, including protests against the U.S. intentions to build a wall to Mexico and anticapitalism rallies.
“We have heard quite a lot of what’s going on the streets,” said European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. “It’s not as if we are blind and deaf as we go through Hamburg, we have been listening very carefully indeed, as people try and influence the outcome of the summit.”
Many of the protests were peaceful. Four separate gatherings protesting Hamburg’s trade industry—the city is home to a major port—took place largely without incident, police said. But in some cases, in addition to hundreds of people trying to block streets, people attacked the authorities—including officers guarding the Park Hyatt, where according to German media reports Mr. Putin is staying.
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