Tens of thousands of anti-globalization demonstrators are expected on the streets of Seville this evening.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are marching through the streets of Seville this evening at the end of a two-day summit of European Union leaders.
But there is no sign of the violent clashes that have marked protests at other international gatherings, including the EU summit held in Barcelona in March.
Spanish police had tightened already stringent security arrangements after Basque separatist group ETA launched a two-day bombing campaign to coincide with the EU summit, severely injuring one British tourist on the Costa del Sol and inuring eight others.
Organisers said they expected at least 100,000 to participate in the three-hour march which will culminate in the Concert Against Globalization, which is expected to go on into the early hours of the morning.
Banging drums and blowing whistles, the anti-capitalist protesters grouped under the umbrella of the Social Forum, took over the streets of central Seville, marching from the railway station to the site of Expo 92 where a concert was planned.
Some demonstrators waved communist, Cuban and Palestinian flags or trade union banners as the eclectic group called for an end to globalisation.
"Anti-globalise yourself!" was one slogan scrawled on the wall of an apartment block on the route of the march. Local residents doused the protesters with water from the balconies of high-rise blocks, cooling them in the evening heat.
"We're demonstrating against the summit of the heads of state. They should get out of here, we don't want them in Andalucia," said Carlos Alberto (22), a student carrying a green and white anarchist flag.
But most EU leaders had already packed their bags and left after agreeing on new measures to stem illegal immigration.
Around 10,000 police, who had imposed a ring of steel around the capital of the southern Spanish region of Andalucia for the summit of 15 leaders, maintained a close watch on the march but remained at a respectful distance.
In the run-up to this evening's march, several hundred young people from all over Europe set up camp in a Seville park, took part in workshops and joined small-scale demonstrations.
Several dozen anti-globalization activists, mainly French and Italian, occupied the historic Church of the Divine Saviour in the city center while an afternoon wedding was underway.
Earlier, a group of 10 people stripped naked outside the Seville branch of the Bank of Spain in the cause of debt relief for developing countries.
Even the police demonstrated. Around 1,500 turned out for a protest called by their unions against what they acknowledged was a case of security overkill.
"The government is afraid of violent incidents, but this has just been a Band-Aid over a wound that has yet to appear," said police union leader Mr Manuel Espino.
Armed police set up roadblocks on the main road into Seville from the southern coastal town of Malaga, searching cars and luggage.
Earlier Spanish police barred buses carrying around 500 Portuguese leftists from entering the country to join the protest, turning them back near the border at Vila Verde de Ficalho, about 135 miles southeast of Lisbon.
"They can't say we are European citizens if, when we want to affirm our rights as citizens, they place ... police with guns in our path," said Mr Francisco Louca, a far-left Portuguese politician who was part of the group.
A spokesman for President Jorge Sampaio said he had contacted the Spanish Embassy about the incident.
AFP &