Police sealed off the summit area with huge barricades
An anti-capitalist protester has been shot dead during clashes with police during the G8 summit in the Italian port city of Genoa.
Another protester is reported to be seriously injured after having been run over by a police vehicle in the same incident.
The death came as running battles raged between thousands of anti-globalisation demonstrators and police close to where the leaders of the world's richest countries and Russia - the Group of Eight (G8) - were holding their first day of talks.
Protesters dressed in black started fires, smashed windows, looted shops and pulled up cobblestones to hurl at the security forces.
Police responded with tear gas and baton charges, leaving several people with blood streaming from head wounds.
The G8 leaders are discussing the threat of a world recession, liberalising international trade and efforts to combat global warming.
But they are not expected to heed the protesters' calls for the cancellation of poor countries' debts.
The demonstrators - protesting over what they see as the adverse effects of globalisation on poorer countries - held banners reading "Zero Debt" and "People Not Profits".
Click here to see map
The clashes began about 1.5km (one mile) from the medieval palace - the Palazzo Ducale - where the G8 summit is being held, just outside the "red zone" exclusion area surrounding the summit venue.
Plumes of smoke hung over the city as the G8 leaders met behind a ring of steel and concrete shutting off the city centre.
Protesters smashed their way into a bank, destroying a cash machine, and looted a computer store, setting its contents ablaze.
BBC staff were instructed to leave the riot area after a camera crew was attacked by a group of anarchists. Staff from other media organisations have also been targeted.
But the BBC's Brian Barron in Genoa says that, so far, the security operation seems to be working and the violence is not on the scale of the December 1999 anti-globalisation protests in Seattle.
Health fund
In an effort to make the summit look less like a "rich man's club," the G8 has invited representatives of developing countries to join them on Friday evening, when they plan to announce a $1bn global health fund to fight Aids, TB and malaria.
African leaders, including South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, are in Genoa to present their plan for Africa's renewal, the New Africa Initiative.
Mr Mbeki has warned that over a five-year period Africa will need at least $10bn - just to tackle Aids.
The G8 leaders are expected to confirm their commitment to a new round of world trade talks.
But the meeting is unlikely to resolve the serious differences between the United States, Europe and Japan on the scope and purpose of the trade negotiations, which have been stalled since December l999.
The summit will also discuss the problems of the world economy, which is slowing down dramatically.
Recession in Japan and a sharp slowdown in the United States are spreading to Europe, threatening global trade and growth.
The US is expected to press European leaders to do more to stimulate their own economies, including urging the European Central Bank to cut European interest rates further.
The political leaders say they want to deepen dialogue with their citizens, including peaceful protesters, but they condemn violence and say they will not allow it to prevent meetings like the G8 going ahead.
US President George W Bush has gone further, attacking what he described as the "isolationism and protectionism" of anti-globalisation demonstrators.
"You embrace policies that lock poor people into poverty. Trade has been the best avenue for economic growth for all countries," he said.
Map shows "red zone", the exclusion area for
the summit, and the outer "yellow zone", which
has been breached by protesters.
-- Anonymous, July 20, 2001