Protesters clashed on Wednesday with police protecting the world's most powerful leaders who arrived for a G8 summit still divided over tackling climate change and helping Africa.

G8 Summit
Queen Elizabeth II welcomed the G8 leaders to a banquet of salmon and lamb, informally kicking off the summit. Formal discussions start today with global warming on the menu.

US President George W. Bush and other heads of the G8 flew in by helicopter to the Gleneagles Hotel, sealed off by a 8km no-fly zone and protected by 10,000 police, a tethered blimp with infra-red cameras, and makeshift look-out posts.

EPA
The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, all in costume, stage a peaceful march to the Gleneagles Hotel.

Earlier, hooded activists smashed car windows and fought with riot police in the nearby town of Stirling while others set up impromptu barricades on the roads around the heavily guarded complex hosting the summit.

Police made 60 arrests as anti-capitalist, anarchist and environmentalist gro-ups sought to capture the protest limelight.

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