British riot police sealed off large areas of central London yesterday as the May Day anti-capitalist demonstration descended into violence. A small but determined core of demonstrators hurled missiles at police and caused damage to property and famous landmarks estimated at thousands of pounds. Late last night 1,000-strong groups of demonstrators were continuing to wreak havoc in the city centre.
Sixty-seven people were arrested for offences including possession of CS gas, knives and for criminal damage. Nine police officers were injured.
Nine members of the public were also injured as the demonstration developed from a relatively peaceful protest into an attack on property. A McDonald's restaurant was stormed and ransacked and the statue of the former wartime British prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, and the Cenotaph war memorial monument were defaced.
The Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, condemned the "mindless thuggery" of the demonstrators, who rampaged through areas of central London between Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square. Up to 6,000 activists took part in the May Day protest against global capitalism.
In Berlin, police used water cannon and tear gas against leftwing demonstrators last night after protesters erected flaming barricades and threw stones and bottles in the Kreuzberg district of the city. An estimated 10,000 people took part in the "Revolutionary May Day protest" which turned violent when police attempted to stop anarchists associated with so-called "autonomous groups" from barricading streets near Oranienplatz.
During the day about 750 protesters gathered outside an underground station in the eastern district of Hellersdorf for a rightwing demonstration organisation organised by the National Democratic Party. Many carried banners demanding "Work for Germans first" and calling for foreigners to be deported.
About 21 police officers and 25 protesters were injured in Hamburg earlier after a left-wing demonstration turned into a riot.
Small demonstrations by rightwing extremists in other German cities passed off without serious violence.
The numbers attending rallies organised by extremists from left and right were tiny in comparison to large crowds attending mainstream May Day events organised by the trade union movement.