ANNEMASSE, France (AFP) - Demonstrators began arriving to protest at this week's summit of the world's industrialized nations in Evian, as lawyers and non-governmental organizations stood by to help in case demonstrations degenerate into violence.
Small clusters of anti-globalization protestors mainly from France, Germany and Italy moved into the "alternative villages" set up in fields near this small town on the French-Swiss border.
To the sound of drums from a Dutch group called "Rhythms of Resistance," about 400 mainly young people put up their tents, some in an "intergalactic village," the others in a self-styled anarchist's settlement nearby.
The local council has set up chemical toilets, running water and rubbish containers in the fields, allowing the demonstrators to live there, organize child care, communal kitchens and set up marquees for debates, medical care or legal help.
The human rights group Amnesty International said it had lined up 120 observers to follow the two main protest marches on either side of the border when the G8 summit begins on Sunday.
The French lawyers' union (SAF) was expecting about 100 lawyers from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and Spain to act as observers.
In addition to providing information on rights in case of arrest and on how to behave during identity checks, the experts said they would remind the would-be demonstrators of their duty to respect "people and goods."
"In case of clashes, we will not intervene, we are not mediators," said Chloe Rogier, of the French branch of Amnesty.
Back at the village, the atmosphere was calm as people prepared for the next four or five days in their adopted homes.
A German man who called himself "Mr Nobody" and declined to give his name, said he ran a bar in Leipzig and after a 24 hour drive through Luxembourg was setting up an old East German army cantine, ready to feed about 200 people with each meal.
Every morning, the inhabitants of "barrios" or neighborhoods have arranged meetings to organize life in the village, sharing out daily tasks.
Karin, a 26 year-old student from Amsterdam who is staying in an area committed to promoting organic food, said she was "really opposed to using resources in the same way as the G8 do."
She said she was there to show "there are positive ways of fighting," such as trying out alternative lifestyles.
"Here, everyone has the right to speak and especially the right to exist," said Romain, 22, member of a libertarian organization in western France.
Romain said the anarchists settlement allowed him to "break with a society corrupted by individualism and especially to experience more solidarity."
But he admitted that it was also an opportunity to enjoy himself, far from "bailiffs, repeated identity checks... and humiliation even at school."
To provide some reassurance for those who fear the arrival of crowds of "dangerous" demonstrators, the alternative villages were organizing a drink for local inhabitants late on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the lawyers, the main French magistrates' union (SM), a French rights group, the Human Rights League, and an anti-globalization group have vowed for their part to keep things calm.
"This G8 summit will be a laboratory for equal rights between those who are protesting peacefully and those who are holding the high-level meeting," Evelyne Sire-Marin, head of the magistrates' union said.
The organizations said in a statement that they had decided on the steps after "police excesses during the anti-G8 demonstrations in Genoa in 2001 which led to the death of (protestor) Carlo Giuliani."
Earlier this month, a court in Genoa dropped murder charges against a policeman accused of shooting dead Giuliani during the riots, although several high ranking police chiefs were dismissed last year after an internal inquiry on police actions during the summit.
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