Thousands gather for anti-globalisation rally

Thousands of demonstrators Saturday poured into Barcelona ahead of a planned mass anti-globalisation rally as European leaders wrapped up a summit on economic reforms.

Police said 29 people had so far been detained during the two-day meeting, including five held in clashes with police overnight.

Among the detainees were five foreigners - from Britain, Sweden, Germany, Belgium and Slovenia, said a spokesman.

Protest leaders said authorities were refusing to allow buses full of demonstrators from around Europe and the Basque region of northern Spain into Barcelona.

Newspapers reported clashes on the border, about 75 miles north of Barcelona, as police tried to stop demonstrators entering the country.

Spain has reinstated border controls previously scrapped under European Union treaties.

Authorities have said they would turn back anyone suspected of planning to instigate violence.

Police yesterday fired rubber bullets and clubbed several dozen protesters who threw rocks and garbage cans and rampaged through downtown Barcelona as leaders of 28 nations met in a heavily guarded compound outside the city.

No major injuries were reported.

Protest organisers estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 demonstrators were swarming into Barcelona to protest at EU leaders’ plans to liberalise energy and financial markets.

A major demonstration has been called for Saturday evening by the umbrella organization of protest groups, the Campaign Against a Europe of Capitalism and War.

Last night, hundreds of young people gathered for a candlelight memorial for Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old protester who was shot and killed by police at a summit last summer in Genoa, Italy.

On a wall, a demonstrator spray painted: ‘‘An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.’’

At the Palacio de Congresos, EU leaders were today expected to agree to new pledges to cut red tape and boost Europe’s floundering economies, Saturday, Security measures around Barcelona include the deployment of 8,500 police officers.

Combat jets and ground-to-air missiles were also on standby, and warships were stationed off the coast.

Nato has also sent a surveillance jet to provide early alert against a possible terrorist attack from the air.