Anti-Nato protesters hurling paving stones and petrol bombs clashed with police in Istanbul today on the first day of a Nato summit.
The violence, which left around 30 people injured, erupted well away from the venue for the 26-nation two-day gathering, which is ringed by a tight security cordon.
Protesters carrying red flags and shouting "Istanbul will be a graveyard for Nato" lobbed rocks and petrol-filled bottles at police, who responded with tear as and water cannon.
Television pictures showed at least one car overturned and others smashed. Petrol bombs blazed on the ground and people ran from billowing clouds of teargas.
Witnesses said riot police backed by armoured vehicles baton charged some 2,000 demonstrators in the Okmeydani area of Turkey's biggest city, about three kilometres west of the summit building.
Riot police also broke up a smaller crowd in the Mecidiyekoy area when they tried to march towards the summit about three kilometres to the south.