Protests as G8 leaders gather for summit
World leaders began to gather at Gleneagles today for a G8 summit already marred by protests.
An official anti-poverty march was cancelled on public safety grounds, and police fought running battles with protesters in Stirling, 20 miles south of the summit.
Other isolated incidents saw the M9 motorway and – briefly – the A9 closed as demonstrators blocked the carriageways.
The ensuing chaos meant the usual one-hour journey to the luxury golfing resort from Glasgow or Edinburgh was taking at least three hours.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Paul Martin, was the first of the leaders to arrive at Gleneagles, having been greeted at Prestwick Airport by Scotland’s First Minister, Jack McConnell.
Early this afternoon US President George Bush will touch down – on his birthday – and the last of the G8 leaders to arrive will be French President Jacques Chirac who flies in this evening after leading Paris’s pitch for the 2012 Olympics in Singapore.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair himself flew overnight from Singapore where he had been leading London’s 2012 Olympics bid.
Mr Blair wants the twin focus of the G8 agenda to be lifting Africa out of poverty and tackling climate change.
His official spokesman has acknowledged talks on global warming would go “down to the wire”, with Mr Bush reported to be the sticking point as officials seek to thrash out a text he can agree to.
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