Anti-austerity riots in Frankfurt hit Central Bank
THE OPENING of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) new €1.3bn (£940m) headquarters in Frankfurt was met with riots yesterday as demonstrations staged by so-called Blockupy activists turned ugly.
Police vehicles and rubbish bins were set ablaze as police and protesters clashed, leading to dozens of arrests.
Some 7,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Frankfurt, according to the so-called Blockupy group which is protesting against the ECB’s austerity measures over Greece.
The protest was intended to be peaceful, yet police used a water cannon to clear a path through protesters blockading the entrance to the ECB double-tower skyscraper which was due to open yesterday.
Protests began as early as 6am, and then led to “violent outbreaks at several locations in which police have been attacked”, according to police spokeswoman Claudia Rogalski.
Some 94 police officers were injured by stones and tear gas flung by a violent minority from within the protesters, police said. Rally organisers said more than 100 protesters were hurt by police.
Seven police cars were set on fire, streets were blocked by burning stacks of tires and rubbish bins, and shops were damaged in the city centre. Dark smoke billowed in front of the 185-metre high ECB towers.
Ulrich Wilken, an organiser of the protest, said: “Our protest is against the ECB, as a member of the troika, that, despite the fact that it is not democratically elected, hinders the work of the Greek government.”
ECB president Mario Draghi addressed the demonstrators in his speech at the opening ceremony, but said they were missing the point by blaming the central bank.
“European unity is being strained. People are going through very difficult times… But the euro area is not a political union of the sort where some countries permanently pay for others,” he said.
THE ECB’S NEW HOME: ECHOES FROM THE PAST
The massive protests in Frankfurt surrounding the new European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters yesterday are raising memories of another bank building controversy. The scandalously costly renovations to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) building in London led to an audit and the resignation of its president in 1993. Former bank president Jacques Attali presided over a £66.2m refurbishment, spending over £1m on luxury carpets, £5.7m on suspended ceilings, and £845,000 on expensive marble, according to a 1993 story in the Independent newspaper. In total, the bank reportedly paid out £1,524 per square metre. The new ECB building is an entirely new construction project, not a renovation, but the €1.3bn (£940m) price tag long ago exceeded the 2005 estimate of €850m. Construction in Frankfurt costs approximately £7,854 per square metre, surpassing the EBRD figure by over £5,000 per square metre, even when accounting for inflation.
EMMETT SCHLENZ