Activists of the "Blockupy" movement have clashed with the police in
Frankfurt. The demonstration was organized to protest the inauguration
of the European Central Bank's new office.
Nearly 2,000 protesters climbed over barbed wires and threw stones and
bags full of colored water at the European Central Bank's (ECB) new
building on Saturday, Frankfurt's police said in a statement. They also
attacked a police officer, after which the cops used pepper spray to
disperse the crowd. There were no reports of anyone getting hurt.
Earlier on Saturday, the participants gathered at the St. Paul's church,
chanting the slogan "March to the new ECB. We help with the move." The
protesters then walked to the ECB's new office, which has cost nearly
1.3 billion euros.
The European bank's building, scheduled to be inaugurated in March next
year, faced severe criticism from politicians like Katja Kipping of the
leftist "Die Linke" party who disapproved of the fact that the ECB
handed out money to southern European countries only if they reduced
their social spending.
The Saturday protest was a part of a four-day festival called "Talk,
dance, act" in which participants discuss steps to be taken against EU's
policies that, according to critics, are causing widespread
impoverishment.
"Blockupy" is a network of left-leaning organizations which are critical
of the ECB's economic reforms in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
mg/shs (EPD, dpa)
