Roger Boyes and the Clown Army

Police used water cannons to disperse groups of protesters trying to storm the opening day of the G8 summit today as world leaders arrived at the northern German resort hosting the three-day meeting.

Even before the summit formally got under way, a top US official dealt a blow to German hopes of securing a binding deal on carbon emission cuts by saying that all countries - including fast-growing developing nations such as China, India or Brazil - would have to be involved in any such accord.

The issue was discussed at a lunchtime meeting today between Angela Merkel and President Bush. But although though Mr Bush told the German Chancellor that he had come with a "strong desire to work with you on a post-Kyoto agreement", there was no suggestion that he would reverse his position on binding emission targets.

Expert View

While ‘framework’ is hardly an inspiring word, it could prove to be a crucial one for the G8 on climate change

Lewis Smith

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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

Multimedia

• Video: Our young man in Heiligendamm

• Audio: Behind the scenes at the G8

• Pictures: G8 summit

BACKGROUND

• Quotes: what Putin told The Times

• Blair reinvented the Middle Ages

• The West is starting this Cold War

• Save the planet: give to China

Related Internet Links

• Official site of the G8 summit Heiligendamm

Related Links

• On the spot: with the G8's Clown Army

• Briefing: the Merkel Method & how the G8 works

• Blair promises to tackle Putin at G8 summit

Multimedia

• G8 activists clash with police

Tens of thousands of anti-globalisation protesters tried to disrupt the summit, blocking off roads around the luxury hotel in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm where the G8 leaders are staying.

As many as 10,000 demonstrators managed to swarm a 12-kilometre fence around the summit venue and police used water cannons to scatter stone-throwing militants.

Thousands of other protesters blocked roads leading from the airport in the northern city of Rostock to the summit venue 60 km away, although the G8 leaders - including Tony Blair representing Britain at his final G8 summit - were flown directly to Heiligendamm.

Instead, the protesters, including a bizarre 'clown army', targeted support staff and the 4,000 journalists accredited to cover the summit, cutting off a steam train link between the media centre and summit hotel.

Combating climate change is the number one objective set by Ms Merkel, who has staked Germany's G8 presidency on persuading her counterparts to agree to limit the global temperature rise to 2C (3.6F). She also wants a deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent compared with 1990 levels by 2050.

But Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House-run US Council on Environmental Quality, said today that the United States could not agree to long-term targets being fixed because all nations have to be involved in any accord, including fast-growing developing nations.

"We’ve not sat down with China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa," said Mr Connaughton.

"We have not sat down with Australia, South Korea and a number of the other major emitting countries on this issue and so until we’ve got everyone in the room and until we have consensus among all of them you won’t see a collectively stated goal on that yet but it’s coming."

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