German police said on Sunday that 128 people were arrested after a violent demonstration by anti-G8 protestors in Rostock the previous day which left up to 1,000 people injured.
The organisers of the protest in northern Germany, which came four days before the start of the G8 summit in nearby Heiligendamm, have claimed that at least 165 people were arrested.
Prosecutors in Rostock said they would bring charges of assault and disturbing the peace against 10 of those who were detained when protestors hurling Molotov cocktails, stones and bottles clashed with police.
The demonstrators also overturned and set fire to several cars.
The organisers said 20 protestors had been seriously hurt, while another 500 suffered light injuries. The number of injured protestors was not officially confirmed.
"Some of them were arrested in such a brutal manner that they had to be hospitalised," said Wilke Studzinsky, a lawyer representing the arrested marchers.
The police said 433 officers were injured in the clashes, 30 of them seriously -- which it defined as having fractures or worse injuries.
"We are lucky that there were no police killed," said Konrad Freiburg, the chairman of Germany's police union.
He told Monday's edition of Bild newspaper that "troublemakers, mainly ones coming from Italy and Greece, became astonishingly violent."
The violence Saturday involved only a small percentage of the 20,000 people that took part in the march, according to police figures. Organisers of the march -- a collection of anti-globalisation and anti-poverty groups -- claimed 80,000 people had taken part.
Protest organisers on Sunday condemned the violence and pledged to do what they could to prevent it from continuing as the summit gets underway.
"We want to do everything so that all goes well now and no one throws fuel on the fire," said Karsten Smid, a spokesman for protest organisers. "We want to convince with arguments, not with rocks."
The violent protesters ranged from communists to anarchists.
"They are activists known for clashing violently with neo-Nazis, and who also often look for confrontations with the authorities," said Jessica Wessel from the police unit charged with G8 security.
Tim Laumeyer, spokesman for a group of leftist protesters, called the violence "unjustifiable," but also criticised police for what he said was a heavy-handed response. Water canons and tear gas were used on protesters.
The Rostock march was the biggest event of a week of demonstrations ahead of the meeting of the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States which begins on Wednesday.
More protests are planned in the coming days, with militants threatening to block roads around Rostock airport from Wednesday to prevent the leaders and their delegations from reaching the summit venue.
The road blocks must be "so much better prepared" to avoid further incidents, said organiser Mani Stenner.
"The idea is to sit on the road and wait for police to come and move you," he said. "But the protesters themselves have to remain calm to avoid another escalation of violence."
German authorities have mounted an extensive security operation for the summit, with up to 16,000 police on duty.
