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After a night of demonstrations and violence, anti-capitalist protesters resumed running battles with German police close to the G20 summit venue in Hamburg on Friday morning.
Clashes at 'Welcome to Hell' Hamburg Demos Ahead of G20 Summit
Leaders of the world's main industrial nations met for their first official talks as tear gas and water cannon rained down on the crowds.
Cars were set on fire and shop windows smashed in the Altona district.
U.S. President Donald Trump's wife Melania, was reportedly stopped from attending an event in the G20’s supporting programme by the protests.
“Police have not given us security clearance to leave the guest house,” Trump’s spokesperson told the German press agency dpa.
11 demonstrators have been severely injured in the clashes.
196 officers and were hurt, while 83 people were temporarily detained at the scene and 19 taken into custody.
A protester in his 20s called Cedric, told Deutsche Welle he was a 'demonstration paramedic'.
He said "the most disturbing thing I've seen so far was yesterday, at the Welcome To Hell demo, where a woman in her 50s was hit over the head with a baton and ended up with concussion".
"The police are provoking people by running into the protests, crowding people together so that they start to panic. They know people will get injured."
Reinforcements poured in from across Germany but police were unable to prevent thousands of protesters from fanning out across the northern port city.
As evening drew nearer, the G20 leaders listened to Beethoven's 9th Symphony and dined in style at the Elbphilarmonie concert hall.
Across the Elbe River, demonstrators blasted Jimi Hendrix from loudspeakers in an attempt to drown out the classical music.
Marine police units intercepted 22 divers from the environmental pressure group Greenpeace who had also been trying to reach the concert hall.
The largest protest during the summit is due to take place on Saturday.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump pressed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at their first meeting during the summit about Moscow's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Putin has denied any meddling in the U.S. democratic process and Russia has asked for proof that it took place.
Trump accepted Putin's assertion that Russia did not meddle in U.S. elections, Lavrov says at #G20: https://t.co/A3sQZMrXxw pic.twitter.com/f5iE5tE5qN
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) 7 July 2017
After their talks, the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the two leaders "had a very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject. The president pressed President Putin on more than one occasion regarding Russian involvement".
"The two leaders agreed that this is a substantial hindrance in the ability of us to move the Russian-U.S. relationship forward," Tillerson told reporters, adding that they had a "positive chemistry".
Putin and Trump also spent a lot of time discussing Syria.
After their meeting an agreement between the United States, Russia and Jordan on a ceasefire in southwestern Syria was announced.
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