German security forces expect some 8,000 violent protesters to converge on the northern city of Hamburg where Chancellor Angela Merkel will host leaders of the G20 leading economies.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday that some 20,000 police officers will secure the Friday and Saturday event in Germany’s second-largest city where anti-capitalist protesters are expected to riot.
NAN reports that on June 20, German police unveiled a mass detention centre built in anticipation of protests against the summit.
Authorities say roughly 8,000 of those are prepared to use violence.
The 11,000-square-metre centre in Hamburg’s southern Harburg district has 70 group cells and 50 single cells that can hold as many as 400 detainees, according to police spokesman Timo Zill.
A supermarket once stood at the location, which was most recently used as refugee accommodation, Zill said.
Refurbishing the venue as a mass detention centre was meant to cost three million euros (3.4 billion dollars), but Zill said it remained to be seen whether the project would exceed the budget.(Reuters/NAN)
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