Tight security and clashes at NATO summit

With demonstrators vowing to disrupt NATO’s 60th anniversary summit, co-hosts France and Germany are mounting a huge security operation.

Thousands of police have been mobilised. And, as Strasbourg prepared to welcome some of the world’s top leaders, bomb disposal teams were
among those checking the streets.

The city has had a taste of what may lie ahead.

Yesterday, protesters clashed with police who fired repeated rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets to try to disperse the crowds. Some 300 people were detained. A third of them were still being held this morning.

A German photographer was reportedly injured in the clashes.

Windows were smashed and cars vandalised as rioters went on the rampage.

With a massive anti-NATO rally planned in Strasbourg on Saturday, the city is bracing itself amid fears of further violence.

Copyright © 2009 euronews

tags: France, NATO