This part of town was the scene of escalating violence. That did not come as a surprise: The quarter is traditionally the hub of Hamburg's leftist activists. It has been subject to gentrification, turning into a "hip" place to live and magnet for tourists.

Police regained control over the streets of Hamburg in the early hours of the morning.

Several shops were looted and damaged during the first day of protests.

Black block protesters were throwing flares at police from behind street baracades. It took several hours for police to really push back in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Fires were set in Hamburg streets and some cars were burned out.

Protesters lit barricades on Friday evening. Throughout the city cars had been set on fire.

Cars were burned and barricades set alight as a violent mob stepped up its actions, sidelining the majority of mainly peaceful protesters.

Police blamed anarchists with the so-called Black Bloc movement for much of the violence. Black Bloc protesters wear all black and cover their faces to avoid being identified.

Riot police disperse crowds with water cannon vehicles on Friday.

Police use water against a woman after she climbed on top of an armoured carrier on Friday.

Police chased protesters up a hill to gain control of the streets.

A picture published on social media shows smoke rising from the streets during protests on Friday.

Violent protests turned several neighborhoods where children usually play into scenes from a warzone.

Rote Flora, an old theater in Hamburg's Sternschanze quarter, has for years served as a meeting point for the city's left-wing movement. Built in 1888, it hosted concerts and operettas until the Second World War. It emerged undamaged after the war and reopened in 1953 as a cinema before later being turned into a department store.

In 1987, the department store closed down. Subsequent plans to turn the building into a musical theater again were met by protests from residents and local shopkeepers. Soon after, a number of militant groups joined the demonstrations, forcing plans to be completely abandoned. Two years later Rote Flora was declared a squat, while also functioning as a center for political and cultural events.

During the 2007 G8 summit in Hamburg, Rote Flora served as a convergence center for a number of anti-capitalist protest movements. That prompted large clashes between police and protestors. Authorities also stormed the old theater, detaining a number of protest organizers.

A decision by the city of Hamburg in December 2013 to redevelop the Rote Flora site saw it again become the focus of large and oftentimes violent demonstrations. Just a month later, the borough of Altona went back on its plans, announcing that the building would not be demolished and would remain a cultural center.

Many of the anti-capitalist protest movements seen during this year's G20 summit in Hamburg were organized at Rote Flora, including the "Welcome to Hell" march. However, few would have foreseen just how much the demonstrations would be overshadowed by violence and destruction.

As the violence escalated around Hamburg on Thursday and Friday night, Rote Flora was quick to distance itself from the so-called "Black Bloc" rioters. Andreas Blechschmidt, a spokesman for Rote Flora, said a "form of militancy had poured out on to the streets which was intoxicated with itself ... and we find that politically ... wrong."

Hamburg police responded to the violence with water canons and tear gas, a response some said only further provoked the rioters. "We saw a Hamburg police force that time and time again opt to use violence," Rote Flora spokesman Andreas Blechschmidt said. "I think that played a role last night [Friday], and made people say to themselves, 'Right, that deserves pay back.'"