Protesters, police clash after EU summit

March 16, 2002 Posted: 5:41 PM EST (2241 GMT)

BARCELONA, Spain -- Pockets of anti-globalisation protesters broke windows and clashed with police in Barcelona late Saturday after European Union leaders ended a two-day economic summit.

A largely peaceful march by 250,000 anti-globalisation demonstrators turned violent late Saturday, when groups of protesters threw Molotov cocktails and fired small incendiary devices at police and broke windows of banks and other businesses in downtown Barcelona.

The clashes broke out near the national police headquarters when "small, violent groups tried to provoke" police, and it quickly spread to other locations downtown, a police spokeswoman told CNN. Seven police officers were injured and 38 demonstrators were arrested, she said.

Earlier, demostrators carried banners with slogans such as "Terror U.S.A." and "Against A Capitalist Europe" as they made their way from Plaza de Catalunya down Via Laietana to the city's port area two kilometers (1 mile) away.

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