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| | GEO World | | Police clash with protesters ahead of NATO summit | Updated at: 1225 PST, Saturday, April 04, 2009
STRASBOURG: Police held back protesters with teargas and detained two dozens people in a pre-dawn clash before a summit of leaders of 28 NATO nations Saturday on the French-German border.
Some 1,800 protesters left their camp in the south of the French city of Strasbourg at about 4 a.m. (0200 GMT) and headed north through deserted streets to the summit site, surveyed from above by several police helicopters shining search lights. The site is ringed with heavy security, and riot police kept them back with tear gas and barricades. The police headquarters for the Bas-Rhin region said 25 people were detained in the incident.
President Barack Obama and the 27 other leaders are meeting to discuss the war in Afghanistan and NATO's future in a summit jointly hosted by Strasbourg and the German towns of Kehl and Baden-Baden.
Another group of protesters who camped out overnight in a square in central Strasbourg were planning a demonstration later in the day. The crowd was peaceful Saturday morning. Other anti-war and anti-capitalist protest events have been planned on the German side of the border. Across the river in Kehl, police outnumbered protesters before a planned unity walk by the leaders along the bridge linking France and Germany. Protesters in Strasbourg have clashed with police in confrontations in previous days.
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