Germany’s G20 blame game

BERLIN — If there’s one thing Germans hate more than most people, it’s admitting a screw-up.

It should come as little surprise, then, that the finger-pointing over the violence at the Hamburg G20 was in full swing even before the ink dried on the summit communiqué. Conservatives blamed Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat (SPD) mayor of Hamburg who predicted there wouldn’t be any major disruptions to the summit, while some on the center left attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel for staging the meeting in a city with a long tradition of leftist violence. Though Scholz, once seen as a possible SPD leader, described the crisis as his “toughest hour,” he said he wouldn’t step down.

G20 violence prompts calls for new curbs on anti-capitalist militants

Allies of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, have called for new curbs on leftwing extremists, including a Europe-wide register, after her decision to hold the G20 world leaders’ summit in Hamburg ended in violent clashes and injuries to nearly 500 police officers.

The cost of the damage has not yet been established but is expected to run into millions of euros. Merkel, who faces a parliamentary election on 24 September, has said that Hamburg residents who suffered damage will be properly compensated.