G8 protests descend into violence

A largely peaceful demonstration against the G8 summit in Evian deteriorated into pitched battles between riot police and protesters that continued today.

At least two protestors were seriously hurt in the protests in Switzerland.

For more than nine hours, police used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon against several thousand militants who rampaged through Geneva’s elegant streets.

Swiss police raided a youth cultural centre which allegedly acted as a base for the protesters, while German police – brought in to reinforce the Swiss – made repeated baton charges.

The protesters looted petrol stations, pharmacies and other shops, leaving central Geneva in chaos and its self-described status as a “city of peace” in tatters.

Only a handful of shops were left intact – mainly those which had anti-G8 or anti-war banners in their windows. Even the bullet-proof windows of big banks were smashed.

Dan Smallman, 31, a news photographer from Brixton, south London, underwent two hours of surgery on serious muscle damage to his leg caused when a police stun grenade exploded by his feet in Geneva.

In Lausanne, the base for developing country leaders, veteran anti-globalisation protester Martin Shaw, 39, from Ealing, west London, was rushed to hospital with multiple bone fractures when a police officer cut a rope that held him suspended from a bridge and he fell into a river, authorities said.

Police were investigating, but said the officer in question did not know the man was there.

The violence erupted at the end of two authorised marches by anti-globalisation protesters against the G8 meeting. Police said that around 50,000 people took part in the demonstrations – one from Geneva and the other from Annemasse, just over the border in France.

The protesters blocked traffic by erecting barricades on bridges in Geneva and roads in both countries. But they failed in their goal to disrupt the arrival of G8 leaders and delegations or to penetrate the security cordon around the summit site.

The protesters timed their actions to coincide with the arrival of most of the G8 leaders from the world’s top seven industrialised countries and Russia.

Most of the leaders landed at Geneva airport and travelled to Evian by helicopter.

Tension flared when the demonstrators tried to return to Geneva, and were confronted by rows of riot police intent on preventing a repeat of a rampage on Saturday night, when youths marauded through the city centre.

Yesterday’s clashes were some of the worst the city has ever seen. Police said they had no idea about the cost of the damage. Authorities were swift to launch massive clean-up operations.

The situation in Annemasse – the designated protest site in France – was tense as hundreds of anti-G8 activists vowed to avenge the arrest of demonstrators in Switzerland. Around 400 people were detained in the Swiss city of Lausanne and at least 30 in Geneva.

Police reported at least another 10 injuries among protesters, none of them life-threatening. At least one police officer was also hurt.