Protesters Block March By German Neo-Nazis
BERLIN -- Several thousand demonstrators forced a group of 300 neo-Nazis to abandon their planned march route through the eastern city of Potsdam on Saturday, police said. Demonstrators used burning trash cans as barricades or threw stones and other objects, forcing police to use water cannons to keep the two sides apart.
Four officers were injured, according to police.
The march in Potsdam was organized by Christian Worch, one of Germany's most visible neo-Nazi groups.
In Leinefelde, another eastern city, members of the German People's Union and the National Democratic Party -- parties known for their nationalist and anti-immigrant stance who have agreed to join forces in upcoming national elections -- were met by about 150 protesters who held placards reading "Nazis, get out." There were no serious incidents, police said.
THE AMERICAS
• LIMA, Peru -- A passenger bus plunged more than 650 feet off an isolated mountain highway in the Andes about 300 miles south of Lima, killing at least 28 people and injuring 28 others, officials said.
• BOGOTA, Colombia -- A taxi driver and his passenger were killed when a small bomb left in a cardboard box exploded on a highway in the capital city of Bogota, police said. The bomb was left near a bus stop. Rebels have targeted bus stops in the past.
ASIA
• SEOUL -- A North Korean man entered the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok in the Russian far east to seek political asylum, a South Korean official said. In Moscow, a U.S. Embassy spokesman confirmed the arrival of a man claiming to be a North Korean citizen on Thursday morning.
• KATMANDU, Nepal -- At least 12 Maoist rebels were killed in gun battles with Nepali troops that erupted after a truce for a major Hindu festival ended this week, officials said.
They said the guerrillas, seeking to overthrow the constitutional monarchy that rules this impoverished Himalayan nation, fired on security patrols at several places in east and west Nepal. Ten suspected rebels died in clashes Saturday in Siraha in eastern Nepal and Taplejung, near the border with India, while two more were killed on Friday night, an officer said.
EUROPE
• ROME -- Tens of thousands of antiwar marchers blocked parts of central Rome to protest the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Italy has about 2,700 troops in Iraq, the third-largest foreign contingent after U.S. and British forces. Opinion polls have shown that a majority of Italians oppose the war.
AFRICA
