Second night of clashes in Berlin

Masked left wing extremists hurled cobblestones and bottles at Berlin police tonight in a fresh outbreak of May Day violence in the German capital.

Authorities had cut off parts of the city and sent in extra police from other parts of the country in hopes of keeping a lid on riots.

Clashes erupted after several authorised demonstrations wound down in the central Kreuzberg district, a regular flashpoint of May Day riots for the past 15 years.

Groups of protesters lobbed dug-up cobblestones at police and looted a supermarket that was already ransacked the night before.

Hundreds of police in riot gear swarmed into the streets from vans parked in the area and turned water cannons on the demonstrators.

Clashes flared around dusk after thousands of authorized demonstrators - carrying signs demanding Destroy capitalism and Stop Bush’s global war as well as Palestinian flags - converged and dispersed in Kreuzberg.

Overnight, police in Berlin and Hamburg had arrested about 80 people after clashes with left wing protesters who threw rocks and set street fires. Police used tear gas to break up those protests and said more than 80 officers were injured in Berlin alone.

An 18-year-old woman in Berlin was admitted to hospital with serious injuries after being hit in the head with a bottle during one overnight melee.

Earlier today, far-right marches in several other German cities sparked clashes with authorities and jeering counter-demonstrators.