The city of Rostock was last night braced for further rioting by protesters in the lead-up to the G8 summit.

More than 1,000 people were injured in clashes on Saturday, including 430 policemen, which ranked as a grim record in the long postwar history of protest. Even the often bloody anti-nuclear demonstrations of the 1980s failed to reach this level of aggression.

The north German port was left scarred, littered with the skeletons of burnt cars and rubbish containers and broken glass from dozens of smashed shops. City officials put the damage at more than €1 million (£677,000).

Knut Abramowski, head of the unit co-ordinating the 16,000 police officers who are now around the G8 venue in nearby Heiligendamm, said that he was “deeply shattered” by the scale of the aggression.

It’s Grrrrr8 (honest)

As the G8 summit begins in Germany, Hugo Rifkind explains everything you need to know – and lots of stuff you don’t

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Even some of the organisers of the anti-G8 demonstration were expressing remorse yesterday. Monty Stenner said that the “actions of these protesters against individual policemen could not be justified”.

The anti-G8 movement had started the summit week with a tactical advantage. The massive police presence and a 12 kilometre (7½ mile) steel wall surrounding the summit venue suggested to the world that the leaders of the industrialised world were frightened and ashamed of their policies. But the public relations merits of provoking the German police turned sour as soon as protesters used unacceptable violence. Television pictures at the weekend showed the anarchists attacking the police as units tried to stage an orderly withdrawal.

Police were out in force yesterday. They did not wear riot helmets while supervising a smaller demonstration against genetically modified food, but the nervousness was obvious. In a long convoy of honking tractors, the protesters moved out of town to fields where GM crops were being grown. A single demonstrator tried to clamber over the fence. Within minutes 20 police trucks had surrounded him.

The next test comes today, when anti-G8 picketers will try to block Rostock airport to prevent the arrival of the technical and translation teams who are needed for the summit. The protesters have vowed to try to disrupt air traffic.

For the German Government the riots — led by 2,000 anarchists dressed in black — are a nightmarish overture to what looks set to be one of the more stormy G8 summits of recent years.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said that she would refuse to strike a “lazy compromise” on climate change and openly acknowledged that an agreement on carbon emissions was extremely unlikely this week.

The reason, she implied — but did not say publicly — was because of President Bush’s vague pre-summit initiative. An internal government memorandum leaked to Der Spiegel makes clear that the Germans are deeply upset by the Bush Administration, which has not only tried to upstage the Chancellor on climate change but has also tried to out-trump her with initiatives on Aids and Africa.

The tense security situation makes matters even more complicated. The Genoa summit six years ago is remembered only because a frightened policeman pulled a gun and fatally shot a student. In Hamburg last month a policeman shot in the air from his isolated and threatened vehicle.

Axel Falkenberg, a police spokesman, said that 128 demonstrators had been arrested, 16 of them foreigners. Bulgarians, Japanese, Swedes and Frenchman were among the detainees, but no Britons.

Timetable

Wednesday
G8 leaders arrive, reception and dinner

Thursday
Morning
Growth and responsibility in the global economy

Midday
Group photo, followed by meeting with young people from J8 (Junior 8) summit

Afternoon
Climate change and energy efficiency

7.30pm
Working dinner then bilateral meetings

Friday
Morning
Discussions with developing countries

1pm
Working lunch with heads of UN, OECD, IMF, IEA, WTO and World Bank

3pm
Press conference

Source: German government

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