German port Rostock braced for G8 demos

ROSTOCK, Germany, June 2 (Reuters) Tens of thousands of anti-globalisation protesters converge on the Baltic port of Rostock today to voice their distaste for the policies of the world's leading industrial countries.

Police are expecting up to 100,000 demonstrators to pack the city ahead of a summit nearby of the Group of Eight nations, and to attend 40 separate gatherings planned over the weekend.

Trains travelling to Rostock yesterday were packed with protesters, some of whom gathered on the harbour front to listen to a rock concert on a warm evening in the city, 200 km north of Berlin on the Baltic coast.

Eager to avert scenes of violence that have accompanied past G8 summits, German leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel have issued pleas for peaceful demonstrations.

However, shopkeepers in the main commercial district of Rostock were prepared for vandalism. Workmen laboured late into Friday night to board up store fronts and protect against damage. Police were visible throughout the town.

Demonstrators have been energised by a series of police raids on leftist activists and police orders for them to stay far away from next week's G8 meeting at nearby Heiligendamm.

Organisers expect a larger, more boisterous crowd in Rostock as a result of police efforts to ban protesters from within two kilometres (1.2) of a security fence ringing Heiligendamm.

''We are assuming that the rally will be a peaceful, colourful demonstration,'' said Knut Abramovski, the police chief coordinating security for the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.

The G8 meeting will take place on June 6-8. Merkel will host the US, British, French, Italian, Japanese, Canadian and Russian leaders to discuss hedge fund transparency, African aid and climate change.

In 2001, a demonstrator was shot by police in Genoa at a G8 meeting. Since then, G8 summits have been surrounded by heavy security.

MEASURES JUSTIFIED Around 16,000 police officers are on duty in the week leading up to the meeting, amounting to Germany's biggest security operation since after World War Two.

Heiligendamm is about 25 km west of Rostock. A 12-km fence has been erected around the village and protesters will be kept far away, according to the latest court ruling. Protesters are challenging that order at a higher court.

Protesters are expected to block roads leading to Heiligendamm during the summit. They may also disrupt the arrival of some delegates with their plan to blockade the nearby military airport at Rostock-Laage early next week.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has defended controversial measures such as scent profiling and the option of putting potential troublemakers in protective custody as necessary precautions.

A rally of the extreme right-wing National Democrat Party (NPD) will also take place today in the town of Schwerin.

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