As the ECB opened its new headquarters in Frankfurt, anti-austerity protesters blockaded the inauguration ceremony as scenes turned violent today. Some 10,000 activists were expected, and whilst most protesters took part in a peaceful rally in the city's main square, others were involved in violent confrontations with police, with police squad cars set alight and officers injured. Blockupy, however, claim on their facebook page that the police have acted provocatively, “Blockupy is colourful and determined, in spite of water cannons and tear gas. They want to suppress our protest, but we will continue to voice our resistance. The ECB stands for a politics of impoverishment in Europe. There is nothing to celebrate about that.”  According to the German news site, Deutsche Welle, 350 people have been arrested so far. 

 
The international 'Blockupy' alliance of protesters wanted to disrupt 'capitalist business as usual', targeting the ECB for its role in promoting austerity measures in debt stricken countries such as Greece. With relations between the 2 countries particularly strained at the moment, the protest may be seen as a sign of solidarity.  
 
Alexis Tsipras on Monday reiterated his commitment to ending austerity, commenting to the Greek daily Ethnos that,”the key is to recognize that the previous policy of extreme austerity has failed, not only in Greece, but in the whole of Europe.” 
 
Blockupy agree with Greece's new government's strategy, and in their statement announcing the protest, asserted that, “A new phase of European politics is opening up…brought about by the Greek government which is challenging the doctrine of 'there is no alternative to austerity…The Greek example is for us a signal of hope: there is still space in Europe for asserting the importance of solidarity, democracy and commons against competitiveness and neoliberal order.”