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Violent protests in Barcelona

Anti-globalisation protesters in Gothenburg earlier this month
Anti-globalisation protesters in Gothenburg earlier this month  


BARCELONA, Spain -- Anti-globalisation protesters have clashed with baton-wielding police in central Barcelona.

Dozens of shop windows were smashed as police in riot gear charged thousands of demonstrators near the Department of Industry, according to a Reuters reporter on the scene.

More than 22 people were arrested and around 32 were injured including a number of journalists covering the event, state radio reported.

"The windows of shops and banks were smashed and there has been damage to traffic signs, telephone boxes and the door of the local government's department of industry," a police spokesman told Reuters.

Guards have been stationed outside the Barcelona stock exchange and shops feared to be targets.

"Police provoked the fight. They were part of it," Ada Colau, a spokeswoman for the Campaign Against the World Bank, one of the protest organisations, told the Associated Press.

The protest, on Sunday, was organised by an umbrella organisation opposed to globalisation and the World Bank under the slogan "another world is possible."

A World Bank meeting was due to have started in Barcelona on Monday but had already been cancelled because of fears of protests.

Sunday's protest saw an estimated six thousand people, including many from abroad, marched through the city centre waving banners and chanting "Globalisation no, action now."

"The windows of shops and banks were smashed and there has been damage to traffic signs, telephone boxes and the door of the local government's department of industry," the police spokesman told Reuters.

Anti-capitalist slogans were also painted on walls.

The police spokesman was unable to confirm if there were any arrests or injuries.

There have already been a series of high-profile anti-globalisation marches at large-scale meetings.

Earlier this month, a summit of European leaders in Sweden was marred by two days of riots in the host-city, Gothenburg, which left injuries and widespread damage in their wake.





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