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| PROTESTERS ATTACKED YESTERDAY BY POLICE WITH WATER CANNONS |
Today marked the time when some of the first trees came down behind police baracades in Stuttgartt's historic palace garden to make way for a rail tunnell.
Thousands have been protesting and they kept it up this afternoon.
Chants of "Shame on You!" and a cacophony of vuvuzelas rang out from the crowd which organisers put at more than 100,000 people, hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel had appealed for calm.
The project, dubbed Stuttgart 21, is not as environmentally friendly as it might sound. According to campaigners opposing Stuttgart 21, it will require the destruction of old – and beloved – forestland and disturb the city’s underground water springs. They also believe the new expensive tunnel system won’t even discourage road traffic.
During clahses with police yesterday hundreds were injured including a number of school children. Der Spiegel wrote, " In the past, many would have been happy to see long-haired students get their knuckles rapped during environmental protests, believing it served them right. But in Stuttgart on Thursday, it was middle-class schoolchildren, grandparents and lecturers who were getting beaten up and dragged away by the forces of the state."
Middle class citizens don't like it so much when those attacked look just like them.
The following is from Expatica.
FRESH DEMOS IN GERMAN CITY AFTER BLOODY CLASHES
Tens of thousands of people rallied in the southwestern city of Stuttgart Friday to protest against a contentious rail project, a day after riot police clashed with demonstrators.
Chants of "Shame on You!" and a cacophony of vuvuzelas rang out from the crowd which organisers put at more than 100,000 people, hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel had appealed for calm.
The night before police used water cannons, tear gas and batons to disperse 20,000 protestors, leaving hundreds of people needing medical treatment.
"Many people are traumatised, because yesterday ... was a catastrophe, we weren't expecting such violence from the police," said Stuttgart native Werner Braetschkus.
Local police spokesman Stefan Keilbach said Friday's demonstration had so far passed of without injuries. Police had yet to release a crowd estimate for the protest.
"I would hope that demonstrations like these would pass off peacefully," Merkel told public broadcaster SWR. "This must always be tried, and anything that leads to violence must be avoided."
Following the clashes with police on Thursday more than 400 people including minors needed medical treatment, mostly because of the tear gas and pepper spray but also for broken noses and wrists as well as cuts, organisers said.
A blast from a water canon knock an eye out of one protestor, both organisers and police said.
A total of 130 people were injured and 16 taken to hospital, police said. Twenty-six were arrested, the youngest 15 and the oldest 68, they added. Three police officers received cuts and bruises.
Police originally said protestors had thrown rocks and bottles at them, but on Friday a spokeswoman told AFP that only chestnuts had been lobbed at officers.
The demonstrators have been protesting a seven-billion-euro (9.5-billion-dollar) project that aims to make Stuttgart and the surrounding region part of a 1,500-kilometre (930-mile), high-speed rail route across Europe.
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