But the strike showed little sign of spreading into the private sector and the violence remained isolated.
What passes for chaos in Germany, the strike has shown, is a condition of relative calm that most countries would welcome.
The strike, which closed down classrooms for 270,000 students, is now in its third month and shows no sign of moving towards resolution.
But, he said, the strike had shown the government that the industry could run with a significantly reduced labor force.
The strike showed the conflict of interests between working people and management.
And the strike showed that if workers acted together, they could challenge the corporate system.
Much bigger strikes in the mid Atlantic still showed.
The strike in Mumbai showed, once again, that terrorism knows no frontiers.
The strike had an effect on radio shows that used recorded music due to the limited amount of new recordings.
The writers' strike, now starting its seventh week, shows no signs of ending.