Geneva anti-WTO protesters smash windows, burn cars

Organisers including unions and Switzerland's Green Party broke off the march, called to protest against the a three-day WTO conference starting Monday, after masked protesters in the main crowd rampaged through the centre of the city.

Protesters set fire to four cars near the city bus station, causing a thick cloud of smoke. Police used tear gas to disperse the violent protestors and no further damage was caused, a police statement said.

Police blocked off access to the WTO's lakeside headquarters, which the marchers had planned to pass.

The police blamed the violence on some 200 masked demonstrators, known as the "black bloc," out of a total crowd of 3,000. Police arrested 17 people and seized fireworks, iron bars, bicycle chains, sprays, spanners and other objects.

VIOLENT FRINGE, GOOD-NATURED CROWD

The violent protesters were a minority in the otherwise peaceful crowd which was accompanied by a dozen tractors and a marching band.

Protesters held up signs saying "Stop Capitalism, No WTO," "WTO is enemy of the climate" and "We will not sell our souls to the multinationals."

Before the violence erupted, Vera Weghmann, a 24-year-old student from Germany, said corporations play an unseen lobbying role at the WTO, steering its agreements in their favour.

"We see the WTO making policies for the big companies, not for the people," she said, wearing a wedding gown with the label "WTO" and walking arm in arm with Ole Hoffmann, 23, whose suit bore the corporate logos of Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Standard Chartered.