Anti-Nato protestors set barricades on fire at the European bridge between Strasbourg and Kehl during a rally against the Nato summit in Strasbourg. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) military alliance is celebrating its 60th anniversary this week at a summit co-hosted by Germany and France.
STRASBOURG, France: Riot police clashed with hundreds of protesters on Thursday ahead of a NATO summit of world leaders, firing repeated rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds.About 200 youths were arrested and police say they fear there could be much more violence over the next two days both in France and nearby Germany, which are co-hosting 60th anniversary celebrations for the military alliance.
More than 500 demonstrators tried to converge on the centre of the French city of Strasbourg in a spontaneous protest during the afternoon, their numbers swelled by disaffected youths from the surrounding suburbs.They smashed windows, vandalised cars and barricaded a street before being pushed back out of the city by police.
At one point, rioters charged a military vehicle that happened to cross their path, with a masked youth hurling a pole through the windscreen.
One of the occupants, who was in uniform, drew his gun and pointed it towards the sky, giving the driver time to speed off.
Organisers of the anti-NATO movement, which has set up camp just outside Strasbourg, condemned the violence.
"We have no sympathy for the vandalising," Reiner Braun, one of the group leaders, told Reuters.
Reuters reporters said there was a fierce confrontation near the camp in the evening, with youths hurling stones at security forces who responded with a barrage of tear gas and rubber shot, forcing them back into their tented village.Protest groups have said they want to bring chaos to the NATO summit and police warn that clashes at the G20 meeting in London earlier this week have fuelled tensions.
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.
Courtesy: Reuters
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