German police arrest at least 125 anti-G8 protestors

ROSTOCK (AFP) - Around 125 people were arrested for staging a violent demonstration in the northern German resort of Rostock ahead of next week's G8 summit, police said Sunday.

Protest organizers meanwhile claimed at least 165 people had been arrested.

More than 140 police were injured, 30 of them seriously, in Saturday's clashes with protestors hurling Molotov cocktails, stones and bottles. The demonstrators also overturned and set fire to several cars.

Organizers said 20 people had been seriously hurt in the melee, but the number of injured protestors was not officially confirmed.

"Some of them were arrested in such a brutal manner that they had to be hospitalized," said Wilke Studzinsky, a lawyer representing the arrested marchers.

Those falling under the bracket of seriously injured were people suffering fractures or worse injuries who had been hospitalized, according to both police and organizers.

The total number of people slightly and seriously injured was estimated at 500.