Protesters battle German police in May Day violence

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - Left-wing demonstrators set cars ablaze and pelted police with bottles in the worst May Day street violence in years in the northern German port city of Hamburg on Thursday, police said.

"Police officers were heavily attacked by demonstrators and had bottles and stones hurled at them," a police spokesman said, adding several demonstrators and police officers had been injured. "We're seeing scuffles everywhere."

The violence followed a rally by some 6,600 left-wing demonstrators who were protesting against a rally by the extreme-right National Democratic Party (NPD) in Hamburg.

After the march, small groups set cars ablaze and erected barricades out of rubbish bins and wood.

Police said they used water canons to disperse the crowds and arrested several people in what were the worst May Day street battles in Hamburg in years.

The May Day holiday has often been marked by violent street protests in German cities in past years.

In the southern city of Nuremberg, four police officers were injured when left-wing protestors scuffled with police and hurled bottles and stones. Six people were arrested.

Protestors in Nuremberg had tried to break through police cordons shielding a rally organized by the NPD, in which some 1,000 people participated.

(Reporting by Arndt Schuetze; Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich; Editing by Jon Boyle)