More than 20,000 officers were on hand to guard the German city’s streets, skies and waterways.
ACTIVISTS clashed violently with riot cops in Germany setting cars ablaze, looting shops, throwing petrol bombs and trying to gatecrash the convention centre hosting the G20 talks.
Hundreds of extra police were drafted in to the streets of Hamburg in a bid to keep the increasingly violent protests by anti-globalisation rioters under control.
But as these shocking images show the port’s streets were once again turned into a burning battleground.
Around 200 police officers were injured, dozens of activists had to be taken to the hospital and more than 70 protesters were detained.
Many had to be taken to the hospital, including an officer whose eye was injured when a firework went off in front of him.
Thousands of officers in full riot gear patrolled as many as 30 different protest marches.
Most of the demonstrations were peaceful and creative, but some rioters threw petrol bombs, iron rods and cobble stones at cops.
As night fell, some lit fires in the streets of the city’s Schanzenviertel neighbuorhood.
Nearby thousands danced in the streets to techno music as the international leaders listened to a classical concert.
More than 20,000 officers were on hand to guard the Hamburg’s streets, skies and waterways.
Police trucks blasted protesters with water cannons, and officers physically dragged away a group holding a sit-in at the entrance to the summit grounds.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the violent protests as “unacceptable.”
“I have every understanding for peaceful demonstrations,” Merkel said.
“But violent demonstrations endanger human lives, they endanger people themselves, they put police officers and security forces in danger, put residents in danger, and so that is unacceptable.”
Merkel thanked security forces for their work as the G20 met behind a heavy police presence in a no-go zone that was off-limits to most.
Protesters repeatedly tried pushing into the no-go zone among them a group of 22 swimmers from Greenpeace who tried accessing the area from the Elbe River but didn’t succeed.
Activists also attempted to get near Hamburg’s highly protected philharmonic hall, where international leaders were set to listen to a concert and have dinner together.
Police condemned the “shocking criminal energy and high potential of violence” on display.
The city’s fire department said 11 activists were severely injured and taken to the hospital after falling off a four-meter-tall wall (13 feet) after fleeing from a confrontation with riot police.
