Venue for German OSCE Summit Set on Fire

Some 40 unknown people set on fire a building in the German city of Hamburg that will host the upcoming summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The 23rd OSCE Ministerial Council will take place on December 8-9 in Hamburg, Germany.

According to the Bild newspaper, the incident occurred on Saturday evening, and eyewitnesses said that several dozen disguised people set fire to one of the entrances to the building, as well as garbage cans and fences nearby. No one was injured as a result of the incident.

"The hooded men came running over, with ski caps, they had… torches in their hands and stormed the building. They simply took barriers from the sidewalk and lit them on the street. Then the perpetrators disappeared so quickly between the blocks of the Karo [and Schanze] district," one of the witnesses, Maxim Werner, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The damage was not reported in detail, though, windowpanes were broken. According to other media reports, the damage from the fire is estimated as significant, and an investigation into the incident was started.

The OSCE Ministerial Council is an annual conference, which provides the foreign ministers of the OSCE participating states with an opportunity to assess the organization's activities during the past year and to work out stances on global security issues.