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On German side of river, 4,000 demonstrate against NATO

Other News Materials 4 April 2009 16:42 (UTC +04:00)

On the German bank of the Rhine River, nearly 4,000 people demonstrated Saturday against the NATO military alliance, but first reports by police said there was no significant violence, reported dpa.

NATO leaders were holding an anniversary summit on the opposite bank, in France, at the time.

About 1,000 German police looked on during the demonstration in Kehl, a small town opposite the large French city of Strasbourg.

The demonstrators' motto was a call to spend "millions on peace instead of billions on war."

A much bigger demonstration was due later on the French side of the river. Violence was reported in Strasbourg earlier Saturday, with demonstrators hurling rocks and police responding with tear gas near the city centre.

On Friday, about 200 anti-war protesters had demonstrated near the German city of Baden-Baden when US President Barack Obama arrived for the meeting of the 28-member alliance.

The river, with only one major road-traffic bridge crossing it in the area, has proved a major obstacle for the demonstrators. Many of them arrived at Kehl, an international rail junction, in a chartered German "peace train."

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