Crackdown on Davos protesters

DAVOS, Switzerland -- Anti-globalisation activists have been doused with water cannons, sprayed with tear gas and peppered with rubber pellets.

The illegal protest was held against the annual gathering of leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Saturday.

One protester was believed to have sustained head injuries.

With helicopters buzzing overhead and barbed wire fences erected at strategic points, Switzerland's winter tourist heartland resembled a battle zone rather than an Alpine paradise.

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Police surrounded 150 protesters in the Alpine resort, Europe's highest city, where local authorities had banned protests during the forum.

After making warnings over loudspeakers, police opened up with a water cannon on those who tried to get around a fence erected across the main street.

Demonstrators said that despite the ban -- and heavy snowfall -- they were determined to deliver their message, against spreading globalisation, to the corporate bosses.

"We have to fight for the right to freedom of expression," said Kees Hudig, who came from Amsterdam.

Hudig -- as well as many Swiss newspapers and local people -- said the police response was heavy handed.

"They will have a big backlash," he said.

But after a short standoff, demonstrators began to disperse about a kilometre (half a mile) from the convention centre where the forum was being held. The noise of the demonstrators was not heard inside the centre.

About 600 others were blocked on Saturday at Landquart, about 40 kilometres (25 miles away), where they blocked a major rail line between Zurich and many of eastern Switzerland's ski resorts.

Police there said they fired tear gas and rubber pellets after a group of "extremely aggressive" demonstrators attacked security personnel at the station with sticks. Unconfirmed reports said one person was injured in the head.

Other protesters staged a sit-in on a highway through the town, blocking traffic in both directions.

Scuffles were also reported in Klosters, a nearby resort favoured by the British royal family for skiing vacations.

Police used water cannons in Chiasso, a town on the border with Italy, to disperse protesters trying to enter Switzerland.

Davos itself was almost cut off from the outside world. Most stores closed for the afternoon and McDonald's -- which had its windows smashed last year -- literally disappeared behind protective boards.

Elsewhere in the country, a group of some 200 protesters sprayed paint slogans on the walls of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation. About 60 demonstrators staged a brief protest in front of a department store in the Swiss financial capital Zurich.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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