Rioting, looting breaks out in Germany’s Stuttgart

The violence erupted in the early hours of Sunday when people in their hundreds ran riot near Stuttgart’s biggest square, the Schlossplatz, throwing stones and bottles at police.

Police had reportedly arrived to conduct checks related to suspected drug dealings in the area. Several groups then ganged up on police.

But police said later that they could not immediately say why the violence had broken out, lasting several hours.

The rioters plundered stores after smashing shop windows. Several businesses and vehicles were reported to have been damaged in the German city.

“The situation is completely out of control,” the police said at the time, adding that a number of officers were hurt and in critical care at a local hospital.

Police sources said several arrests were made but stopped short of providing a precise figure of the number of those detained.

The area was reported calm later in the day as police forces took back control and a clean-up of the damage began.

Similar clashes in smaller scales broke out between police and groups of young people in the city last week.

SS