French police used tear gas today to drive back demonstrators who tried to push through a police cordon in Strasbourg in a second day of protests against the NATO summit, according to dpa. Police said the militants had dressed as clowns, kissed police officers' hands and tickled officer's faces with feather dusters in an effort to make the riot police look foolish. The protesters are a loose alliance of communists, anarchists, pacifists and radical feminists who consider the alliance evil. Police lobbed tear-gas grenades into cordoned-off streets near the protest camp to force at least 100 demonstrators back into the permitted area. French media reported a higher number of protesters, 200, and said truck-mounted water cannon were also used against them. Across the border in the German city of Baden-Baden, only about 500 people gathered to demonstrate against the NATO summit. There were a few scuffles with German police but no major violence. The summit is being held in both Baden-Baden and Strasbourg, with Germany and France as joint hosts. On Thursday evening there were clashes between demonstrators and police in Strasbourg with more than 300 arrests. About 3,000 people have gathered in the Strasbourg protest camp and say they are determined to disrupt NATO anniversary ceremonies on Saturday. France has deployed 10,000 police and banned the protesters from downtown Strasbourg.
