Hosts fear worst ahead of Nato 60th celebrations

PARIS - For months, the people of Strasbourg have been dreading this week.

On the heels of the G20 summit in London, the eastern French city of Strasbourg and the town of Kehl on the German side of the River Rhine go into lockdown on Friday morning before Nato's 60th anniversary celebrations.

The two cities were chosen long ago to be twin hosts of the 26-nation summit, for they symbolise the peace and unity forged between France and Germany after World War II.

Yet Strasbourg, Kehl and the nearby German resort town of Baden-Baden have imposed security and surveillance measures on a scale unseen since the war.

Locals say ordinary life started to change months ago as the preparations began for the April 3 and 4 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's bash.

France has reintroduced controls on the previously unfettered border with Germany in a bid to curb infiltration by violent leftists.

Thousands of gendarmes, riot police and special units will ring Strasbourg and Kehl with 30km of barricades up to 2m high.

Schools have been ordered closed, homeless people have been moved on, rubbish bins removed and advertising boards on bus stops boarded up.

Judges in Strasbourg are on standby to issue fast-track convictions in the event of mass arrests and the local prison, Elsau, has freed up extra space for new detainees.

In the city's historic centre, police have set up two fenced-off "red" areas and two "orange" areas of restricted access, where only residents wearing a special badge and showing an official identity card will be allowed to come and go.

A Strasbourg court is to make an emergency ruling tomorrow on the legality of the badges, as well as complaints by several citizens over police demands that people remove anti-Nato banners from their windows and balconies.

"It's scandalous and intolerable," said Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Green leader at the European Parliament. "Even [Italian Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi, at the [2001 G8] summit in Genoa, didn't outlaw protest sheets which were hanging from people's windows."

Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries said the removal of the flags "is not acceptable ... in no way does it disturb public order. Holding the Nato summit in Strasbourg must be compatible with free expression for all, with basic democratic rights, respect for law and individuals and in the framework of the security arrangements set down by the prefect".

Between 30,000 and 60,000 demonstrators are expected to join protest meetings from tomorrow, with the climax being a "counter summit" on Sunday.

An umbrella group calling itself CAOS, for Co-ordination Anti-Otan Strasbourg - Otan is the French acronym for Nato - says 500 organisations from 23 countries will take part, ranging from anti-capitalists to anarchists.

"Smash We Can!" says the website of a German radical group, Dissent. "We are here to resist the summit of one of the best resourced and most brutal military institutions in the world."

It lists maps of the summit locations, including hotels, as well as police stations and military sites, and gives tips for what to do if injured or arrested.

On its side of the Rhine, France has mobilised more than 7000 regular police, CRS riot police and fast intervention units, as well as 100 members of the elite GIGN, a unit that is like the SAS.

The military is setting up an anti-aircraft position on a nearby escarpment normally used by paragliders, as well as a command post on the floor of the valley.

On the German side, at least 14,600 policemen are being mustered. In Kehl, 700 people living close to a bridge that will be used for a summit "photo opportunity" will be allowed to leave their homes only with police authorisation.

"The threat [of violence] is genuine," said prefect Marc Rebiere, the French state's highest representative in the Alsace region.

"There has never been a demonstration associated with this kind of summit that has been without violence," said Pierre Ory, one of his aides. "We have the means for organising a summit on this scale and will do whatever is necessary to maintain public order."