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Anti-capitalist protesters tried their best to upstage world leaders gathering for the G20 summit today, but could not stop Barack Obama stealing the show on his international debut.

Police made at least 19 arrests during a day of protests in the City of London, including 11 demonstrators who tried to drive an armoured personnel carrier marked "Riot Police" into the heart of the protests.

Thousands gathered outside the Bank of England, some scuffling with police, and one group stormed a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which received billions of pounds of taxpayer funds last year but has been widely criticised for rewarding its former chief executive with a huge pension.

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The day of diplomacy began several hours earlier, outside 10 Downing Street when Mr Obama arrived in bright spring sunshine for a breakfast meeting with Gordon Brown.

Mr Obama's outsized motorcade was just the first in a series of armoured convoys due to pass through the Downing Street gates. The Prime Minister was also holding talks with President Medvedev of Russia, President Hu of China, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan.

But the two leaders who most threaten to upset Mr Brown's plans for the G20 are not due at No 10 until this evening, when all the G20 heads of state and government meet for a pre-summit dinner.

Mr Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, have already scuppered UK attempts to have the meeting endorse a massive and coordinated fiscal stimulus. They are now pushing for the summit to make clear progress on tighter regulation of financial markets to replace the "light-touch" Anglo-Saxon model blamed for the current crisis.

Asked on Europe 1 this morning about a Times report that he would be prepared to walk out of the summit if he does not agree with its conclusions, Mr Sarkozy replied: "I will not associate myself with a summit that would end with a communiqué made of false compromises that would not tackle the issues that concern us."

He went on: "As of today, there is no firm agreement in place. The conversation is going forward, there are projects on the table. As things stand at the moment, these projects do not suit France or Germany."

At a joint press conference with Mr Brown, Mr Obama denied that there was any real disagreement on the need for governments to boost their economies, just normal discussions as to how best to do it.

"The truth is that that's just arguing at the margins," he said. "The core notion that government has to take some steps to deal with a contracting market place and to restore growth is not in dispute."

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