Several thousand protesters delayed the Summit of the Americas by more than an hour yesterday when they attacked and pulled down parts of a perimeter fence surrounding the conference site in Quebec's old city.
Police fired tear gas and clashed with some 5,000 masked demonstrators in scenes reminiscent of the violence which disrupted the 1999 World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle.
Even larger demonstrations are expected at the three-day summit this afternoon in protest against the signing of an agreement to create the world's biggest free-trade zone by 2005.
Tear gas drifted over the conference area, blinding and choking some members of delegations from 34 countries from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean, who had gathered inside a fenced-off section of the old French-speaking city.
The 6.30 p.m. opening ceremony was delayed to 7.30 p.m., when leaders of five Caribbean nations were confined to the Hilton and Radisson hotels as white clouds of stinging gas blew back behind police lines.
In three areas demonstrators pulled down the three-metre high chain-link fence stretching for 3.8 kilometres around the cobbled streets and slate-roofed houses of the old city. The worst violence occurred at Rene Levesque Boulevard, where 15 sections of the fence were pulled down and concrete stanchions broken to use as missiles.
Groups of masked anarchists clad in black threw chunks of concrete, traffic cones, poles, bottles, and even a mattress at police making a baton charge to clear the street. A number smashing the windows of a car marked "Global News" were dispersed by tear gas.
For several hours a stand-off developed along two kilometres of the fencing, with police lobbing tear gas canisters every few minutes to keep the crowds from making further assaults. The canisters were occasionally thrown back.
Inside the zone hotels and shops were quickly closed. International journalists, almost blinded by the acrid fumes, were for a time locked out of the press centre.
Restaurateur Robert Bragoli of the Le Vieu d'Or cafe just inside the fence, said as he mopped his eyes, "It's like a police state. We are a democratic country. You would think this was Northern Ireland."
Sgt Mike Gaudet of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said no protesters penetrated the fence, and three arrests were made. Large mechanical diggers were brought in to replace the wrecked cement dividers and wire mesh as the violence ebbed. Before the trouble began, a carnival-like mood prevailed among the protesters, drawn from diverse groups linking opponents of globalisation with environmentalists, anti-capitalists, human rights groups, environmentalists and others.
Young people festooned the chain-link fence with slogans and rolls of white toilet paper. Some danced to drumbeats just out of tear gas range, while others chanted: "Whose streets, our streets." Many wore metal helmets and face masks, and carried gas masks, swimming goggles and bottles of water to wash tear gas from their eyes.
Christian Durane, a Quebecois, said as he waved a large Soviet flag: "I want to send a message with this relic. I'm against these negotiations. They want our resources for the big corporations."
