Police officers injured in May Day anti-war protests in Brighton

Three police officers were injured during clashes with anti-war protesters after hundreds gathered for a May Day demonstration.



Police said missiles were thrown at officers and their horses as activists marched through Brighton to demonstrate against an arms factory in the city.

Shop windows were scrawled with red graffiti, paint bombs were thrown and a handful of protesters climbed up scaffolding and unfurled a banner on top of Barclays bank.

The three officers suffered minor injuries after attempting to control the crowds in the seaside resort.

Sussex Police, who put the number of protestors at 500, made three arrests, including one for assaulting a police officer.

Brighton and Hove City Commander, Chief Supt Graham Bartlett said: “Once again, during a demonstration organised by Smash EDO, we have seen unjustified acts of violence aimed at premises and police officers, with some officers receiving minor injuries.

“Members of public including many visitors to the city have been clearly frightened and intimidated by a small minority of the group who have been verbally abusive, and throwing missiles at police. One member of public was struck in the face by a missile and had to be treated by a police medical team.”

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "Missiles have been thrown at police officers and police horses by the demonstrators.

"Three officers have suffered minor injuries – I do not believe they need hospital treatment."

The May Day march was organised by campaign group Smash EDO and was aimed at defence manufacturer EDO MBM Technology.

Smash EDO were criticised by Sussex Police for refusing to reveal in advance exact details of the protest, including how many people were expected and the route they planned to take.

They did, however, create an "antimilitarist" map of Brighton pinpointing more than 30 banks and businesses, including the city's American Express building, police stations and several McDonald's restaurants, and published it on their website.

Protesters chanted "Whose streets? Our streets" as they marched through the city, while police officers on horseback cleared the way ahead of them.

They also paused and jeered as they passed an Army Recruitment Centre.

A spokesman for the group claimed there were up to 1,000 protestors.

Organisers had instructed protesters to wear red, but many wore black with masks covering their faces, which they said was a stand against the country's surveillance society. Others wore more colourful costumes, including families with young children who were adorned with face paints and fancy dress.

Jane Blackson, 30, brought her daughter, Lala, four, to the protest.

"We must still make sure the government knows that we've not gone away and we're not happy for them to bomb people, and for this town to be making the bombs that kill innocent people", she said.

Smash EDO claim EDO MBM Technology has played a crucial part in acts of aggression by coalition forces in the Middle East. continues here

Riots across Europe fuelled by economic crisis

Tension over the global economic slump have fuelled May Day protests and riots across Europe with trouble breaking out in Germany, Greece, Austria, Turkey and France.

Police in Berlin arrested 57 people while around 50 officers were hurt as young demonstrators threw bottles and rocks and set fire to cars and rubbish bins. There were also clashes in Hamburg, where anti-capitalist protesters attacked a bank.

In Turkey, masked protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at police, smashing banks and supermarket windows in its biggest city, Istanbul. Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of rioters and more than a hundred were arrested with dozens more hurt. There were also scattered skirmishes with police in the capital, Ankara, where 150,000 people marched.

The government had declared May Day, traditionally marked by rallies by labour unions, a public holiday this year under pressure from unions.

In Greece, officers fired flash grenades to disperse rioters in Athens after attacks on banks and traffic cameras. Transport strikes disrupted bus, train and ferry services as well as flights by Greek carrier Olympic Airlines.

Twenty people were injured and five arrested after police clashed with demonstrators at a traditional labour day rally in Linz in northern Austria. The incident came after police intercepted some 50 hooded protesters among a procession of up to 700 people at a Communist Party rally.

In France, unions joined forces for the first time since the Second World War, but turnout was not as high as a protest day in March in which up to three million attended 300 rallies against President Nicolas Sarkozy's economic recovery plan.

Some politicians have warned of the threat of "revolution", following radical action such as "boss-napping" factory executives and an ongoing strike that has crippled dozens of French universities.

They are wary of the growing power of leftist radicals linked to the New Anti-Capitalist Party of Olivier Besancenot, a Trotskyist postman.

There were also marches in big cities in Spain, burdened with the highest unemployment rate in Europe. More than 10,000 people gathered in the centre of Madrid in a demonstration organised by the country's two largest trade unions.

In Italy, union leaders shifted rallies from major cities to the earthquake-stricken town of L'Aquila as a sign of solidarity with thousands who lost their jobs after last month's deadly quake.

In Russia, about 2,000 demonstrators gathered by a statue of Karl Marx in Moscow waving banners and red Soviet flags and calling for a return of communism.

In St Petersburg, birthplace of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, police arrested about 120 members far right militants armed with knives and knuckle dusters, police said.

Cuba's ailing former leader, Fidel Castro, chose May Day – a key event in the Communist calendar – to attack Barack Obama, the US President, saying the United States only wanted Cuba to return "to the fold, like slaves."

There has been growing concern among European governments about a groundswell of social unrest and violent street protests that have spread amid the economic downturn.

Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Greece and Iceland all faced social unrest and rioting earlier this year as unemployment soared and countries were forced to impose severe cuts to government spending. continues here