Police detained about 100 people Saturday in clashes with far-left protesters in Bern at a banned rally against the World Economic Forum, less than a week before the annual pow-wow opens in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Demonstrators, some of them masked, hurled bottles at police forces who answered by firing tear gas.
About 200 protesters managed to gather in the historic centre of the Swiss capital braving a ban on the rally organised by an alliance named "Everybody Against the Right". The group has said it is opposed to "the world economic forum, the capitalist system and repression".
The rally had first been authorised but city officials later banned it fearing violence. A far-left rally against the populist UDC party of Swiss firebrand Christoph Blocher had been marred by violence in October.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to address the opening session of this year's World Economic Forum on Wednesday, which will focus on the themes of terrorism and climate change. Some 2,500 political, economic and media leaders from 88 countries are expected for the meeting, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.