May Day violence hits Germany

THE annual May Day demonstrations got off to a violent start overnight when police clashed with protestors in Berlin and the northern city of Hamburg.

In Berlin, a policeman was seriously injured and 29 others hurt in running clashes on the fringes of a peace rally that had drawn some 6,000 people to a park in the east of the city.

Police had to use water cannon and tear gas to break up a crowd of some 200 young people who hurled fireworks and other missiles at them.