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Strong security force to protect G8 summit in Deauville

Other News Materials 19 May 2011 19:29 (UTC +04:00)
A 12,000-strong force of police, gendarmes and military will be deployed to protect 18 leaders attending a Group of Eight (G8) summit in France next week, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday.
Strong security force to protect G8 summit in Deauville

A 12,000-strong force of police, gendarmes and military will be deployed to protect 18 leaders attending a Group of Eight (G8) summit in France next week, the country's Interior Ministry said Thursday, reported dpa.

The two-day summit opens in the northern coastal resort of Deauville on May 26.

Addressing reporters in the nearby city of Caen, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said the recent killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and bombing of a tourist cafe in Morocco "justify a particular vigilance at the moment."

Apart from the leaders of the G8, which comprises the United States, Russia, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, the leaders of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa have been invited to the talks, sources in the French presidency said.

The heads of the United Nations, European Union, World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Arab League are also expected to attend, with the IMF to be represented by acting director general John Lipsky.

The summit will discuss financial support for Tunisia and Egypt in the wake of their revolutions, establishing a set of global norms on nuclear security and the role of the internet in driving growth, among other issues.

Some 6,000 people - around 2,500 delegates and 3,500 members of the media - will descend on Deauville for the summit. The exact tally for the security contingent was given as 12,252.

A group of trade unions and left-wing groups have called an "anti-G8" demonstration for Saturday.

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