ANNEMASSE, France (Reuters) - Protesters marched toward Geneva before dawn on Sunday to try to disrupt the start of the Group of Eight summit as security forces braced for anti-capitalist demonstrations.
A Reuters correspondent said several hundred protesters started walking from a aerodrome in Annemasse in France along the main road to Geneva, just across the Swiss border.
Many delegates are due to fly into Geneva for the three-day summit which starts later in the day, bringing together leaders of eight powerful developed economies, including President Bush (news - web sites), and specially invited heads of state from developing countries in the French lakeside resort of Evian.
Police patrols were keeping a close watch on the protesters who left Annemasse around 4.30 a.m. (0230 GMT), holding banners and chanting slogans such as: "They are eight, we are billions" and "Resistance to G8."
Another Reuters correspondent said around 2,000 people had also set out north of Annemasse, toward Evian, around 10 km (six miles) away, and were filling the width of the highway, singing and chanting.
They were not expected to walk all the way to the summit town, but would temporarily block the road before heading back to Annemasse, he said.
With the narrow roads to the spa, blocked by security forces, more protests are expected later in the day in Annemasse, Geneva and in Lausanne, which is directly across the Lake Geneva from Evian.
Police put up barricades on both sides of the French-Swiss border to prevent protesters moving off permitted routes. Army helicopters hovered overhead.
But despite vows by protest organizers that there would be no repeat of the mayhem in the Italian city of Genoa two years ago during a similar meeting of the G8, anarchists clashed in Annemasse on Saturday with police who responded with teargas.
There were no reports of injuries or arrests.
Late on Saturday, activists staged a protest "ring of fire" around the lake with dozens of bonfires lighting the night sky.
Despite the tension that has marked the run-up to the summit, with many shops and businesses in the three towns closed and boarded up, much of the protest has been peaceful and good-humored.
A group of about 20 Dutch activists danced naked near the Jet d'Eau, the 140-meter (460-ft) fountain that is a Geneva landmark, in protest at what they said was the plundering of the developing world's assets, including water, by rich states.
The G8 includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia as well as the United States.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.