Russian police break up G8 sit-in, 37 detained

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, July 16: Russian police detained today 37 anti-globalisation protesters who briefly blocked a road in the city hosting this weekend's Group of Eight summit, a protest organiser said.

The demonstrators, who included European Union nationals, sat down in the middle of St Petersburg's main thoroughfare and held up posters with the slogan ''No G8!'', said Olga Miryasova of campaign group the Anti-G8 Network.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment.

Demonstrations around the summit have been low-key, in sharp contrast to the mass rallies at past G8 gatherings.

Activists say Russian police have used intimidation and arbitrary detentions to keep protesters away from the city.

Officials say people are free to protest but only if they abide by the law.

Miryasova said the protesters who took part in the sit-in on Nevsky Prospekt were from Belarus, Britain, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Russia and Ukraine.

''We wanted to voice our demands: to stop the commercialisation of education and not develop nuclear energy,'' she said.

''Our people sat down on the ground and joined hands ... The riot police dragged them off. No one was wounded. The riot police used truncheons.'' G8 leaders are meeting at a former imperial palace just outside St Petersburg, about a 40-minute drive from Nevsky Prospekt.

REUTERS