They say there are things you need to see in order to believe. This Friday morning in Hamburg is probably one of those occasions. Flares, molotov cocktails and violence erupted as extremists dressed in a uniforms of black clothing marched on the inner city as the G20 summit is set to take place this weekend in the famous northern city of Germany – Hamburg.

Cars were set on fire, streets were blocked, and the casual anarchist’s self destructive irony was in full effect. To me it was magnificent, a true spectacular view as I drove and wandered through the city.  I realized that if one would take away the green and gray European style atmospherics, you could believe that you were driving with a convoy through an actual war zone in some third world country.  It was an absolute mess.

The German authorities did consider the possibility of a high number of demonstrators, the bundespolizei embedded different police units from all over Germany and even from Austria – should the situation escalate – which it did. After the relative “calm” demonstrations in Hamburg came the first attack wave through Friday morning. Burned cars, violence, and some cases of robbery resulted in police officers escalating their response. Around mid-day Friday, the Bundespolizei announced that an immediate reinforcement was required as the situation intensified and become more complex. Initial numbers suggest that over 160 police officers were injured during the morning. A high percentage of those injuries were caused by high velocity projectiles, assumed to be handheld slingshots.

(Featured image courtesy of the author)