15 police injured in violence surrounding anti-foreigner rally

Jena, Germany (dpa) - Stone-throwing and other violence left 15 police officers injured after a rally by a local anti-Islam movement in the eastern German state of Thuringia, authorities said overnight Wednesday.It was not known if any civilians were injured during the incidents.A reported 200 people participated in a rally Wednesday evening in the city of Jena by THUEGIDA, a regional offshoot of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West), a group that has bitterly protested German Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s open-door refugee policy. Both right-wing groups oppose what they perceive as the Islamization of German society by Muslim immigrants.An estimated 3,000 counter demonstrators pelted the THUEGIDA rally with stones and bottles, and several cars were damaged, including at least three police vehicles, authorities said. Several hundred officers, including reinforcements from neighbouring states, blocked attempts by THUEGIDA opponents trying to break through police lines separating the two groups.Demonstrators from both sides of the confrontation scuffled with police, who in some cases used pepper spray to disperse crowds.Several people were taken into temporary custody, and police booked 35 criminal complaints against participants from both sides.Three police officers were injured in a car accident while travelling to Jena from neighbouring Bavaria.