In a Pickle

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Violent scuffles between German police and far-left protesters in the eastern city of Leipzig left dozens of people injured this week, unrest that ignited days after a court sentenced a woman to prison for participating in attacks on neo-Nazis and other extremists, the Associated Press reported.

The clashes began Saturday after around 1,500 far-left demonstrators and supporters of the defendant – known as Lina E. – held a protest in Leipzig, despite city officials ordering a ban on the planned demonstration.

Police said 50 officers and an unknown number of protesters were wounded, adding that around 30 individuals were arrested.

While German government officials condemned the protesters’ violent actions, other politicians criticized the police’s aggressive tactics.

The demonstrations came nearly a week after a court in Dresden convicted Lina E. of membership in a criminal organization and causing serious bodily harm to far-right individuals. Prosecutors had accused the 28-year-old woman of adhering to “militant extreme-left ideology,” and conceiving the idea of attacking individuals in Leipzig and nearby towns.

She was sentenced to five years and three months in prison. But shortly after her sentencing, the court said she would be released under unspecified conditions after having spent about two-and-a-half years in custody before the verdict.

Three other men are alleged to have participated in the attacks and received sentences ranging from 27 to 39 months in prison.

The court’s judge said that right-wing extremism poses a greater threat to German society than leftist violence – but added that even proponents of such ideology must be protected from violence, CNN added.

Germany is particularly sensitive about right-wing ideology because of its Nazi past. For example, it is illegal and punishable with jail time to perform a “Hitlergruss” (Nazi salute) or deny the Holocaust.