Photo Gallery Strasbourg Is Burning
Flaming protest: On Saturday afternoon, protests against the NATO summit in Strasbourg, France, got out of control. As NATO leaders sought to find a compromise over the alliance's next secretary general, militant protesters engaged in street battles with police and set fire to a number of buildings.
Smoke filled the skies in parts of the city.
Violent protesters set a border facility on fire as well as a hotel.
The burning Ibis Hotel in Strasbourg: The entire first floor of the building was on fire.
A tourist information office was also burned out.
Columns of smoke climbed high into the sky along the Rhine River, which serves as a natural border between France and Germany.
The second day of the NATO summit was marked by violence. Summit opponents in Strasbourg threw stones and incendiary objects at police and security officials. They responded with tear gas.
Police tried to keep violent protesters from reaching the city center, where the tense NATO event was taking place.
Here, clouds of smoke rise as protesters march towards a police road block.
Across the Rhine River in Kehl, Germany, where the summit was also held, security was also high. Here, a German police helicopter patrols above the Rhine.
Several hundred protesters march next to a port along the river on Saturday afternoon in the main anti-NATO protest march.
On the German side of the river, the protests remained largely peaceful.
Not all of the scenes in Strasbourg were as peaceful on Saturday as this one.
Protesters threw stones and police responded with tear gas.
A colorful protest: Two demonstrators march in downtown Strasbourg.
In some instances, police also used pepper spray.
A harsh message: The protest march through Strasbourg began peacefully Saturday.
But there were ultimately skirmishes between police and protesters.
On Thursday and Friday, in the run-up to the summit, there had also been altercations between police and left-wing anarchists with the so-called Black Bloc.
A burned-out supermarket is pictured near the French-German border crossing between Kehl and Strasbourg.
The Ibis Hotel on Saturday evening: THe first floor of the hotel was almost totally destroyed.
A destroyed public phone booth in Strasbourg: "It ws proven that the strong police presence -- our decisive actions as well as extensive security precautions were justified," said Bernhard Rotzinger, who led the German police security effort for the summit, which was hosted by both France and Germany.
