Anti-globalisation demonstrators have clashed with police in towns and cities near the Group of Eight (G8) summit in the French spa town of Evian.
The French and Swiss authorities are maintaining a 15-kilometre (10-mile) exclusion zone around the summit itself, to prevent protesters from getting close to the politicians and delegates.

But Sunday saw some demonstrators try to breach this cordon, as well as scenes of chaos in cities of Lausanne and Geneva.

The protests came as many world leaders, including US President George W Bush, arrived in Evian for the summit of the world's leading industrialised nations - which the protesters say will do little to address the needs of the world's poor.

At the summit, the diplomatic rift caused by the US-led war in Iraq is expected to overshadow proceedings.

Bush took a decision in this area that I would not hesitate to call historic

Jacques Chirac on the US Aids funding announcement

France's President Jacques Chirac, the leading opponent of the war, greeted Mr Bush with a handshake and a smile on his arrival, in what was their first meeting since the war.

The French president also sought to play down differences with his American counterpart.

And he praised Mr Bush's recent announcement of a major US financial contribution to the battle against Aids in the developing world, and called on the European Union to make a parallel effort.

But despite this, the French maintain that their opposition to the war was based on a belief that international law and international organisations had to be respected.

For their part, the Americans are said to be in no mood to forgive what they see as the diplomatic "wrecking tactics" employed by France and another G8 member, Germany, that prevented United Nations Security Council backing for the war.

Bush and Chirac: Brief handshake and taut smiles

However, Mr Bush appears to have healed the divisions with Russian President Vladimir Putin - another leading opponent of the war - during their talks in St Petersburg earlier on Sunday.

Other matters on the agenda at the summit include another attempt to improve life for people in the developing world, with debt relief, access to cheap medicines, and agricultural subsidies that favour rich countries on the agenda.

President Chirac invited 12 countries from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Arab world to the summit for talks on development issues during the first day of the summit.

After the talks, President Chirac said it was necessary for the G8 to hear the views of others, and for the others to feel that they were heard and respected.

Mr Bush will press for further action against terrorism and against countries accused of developing weapons of mass destruction.

In particular, he is seeking international authority to seize such weapons, or their components, when they are being carried by ship or plane. There are suggestions that the French are prepared to sign up to this.

'Scenes of chaos'

Some of the most violent protests erupted in the Swiss city of Lausanne. Demonstrators wearing black face masks attacked the hotel area, where some summit delegates were staying, with stones.

They also blocked roads with burning barricades.

Police responded with tear gas to drive crowds of protesters away from the hotel area.

Several demonstrators were arrested for causing criminal damage, while one was seriously injured following a fall from a road overpass outside the city. An inquiry has begun into the incident amid allegations that police cut a rope he was using to abseil down from the overpass.

In Geneva, dozens of youths dressed in black peeled off from a large anti-globalisation march to wreck a BP petrol station, while others blocked the city's main bridge.

Sunday evening saw what the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby describes as scenes of chaos in Geneva as hundreds of protesters ran through the main shopping street, smashing windows and looting high street stores.

Rioters threw stones, rocks and ball-bearings at police, who responded by firing stun grenades.

In an attempt to disperse the crowds, riot police - who included reinforcements drafted in from Germany - charged the front line and there was panic as peaceful protesters and ordinary citizens got caught up in the trouble.

In France itself, thousands of protesters attempting to march on Evian from the town of Annemasse - who had linked up with the march from Geneva - were halted by police using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Months of planning

Sunday's violence followed clashes between demonstrators and police on Saturday and overnight.

France and Switzerland have spent months planning the security operation for the summit - drafing in thousands of extra police.

They had hoped to avoid a repetition of the violence at the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, two years ago when an Italian protester was shot dead by police.

The summit ends on Tuesday.

The G8 countries are: the United States, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Canada and Russia.