Swiss and German riot police greated a spectacle later today in the centre of Geneva. People gathered at the headquarters of the World Trade Organisation, about 1km from town, at about 5pm to protest against the privatisation of water. A totum pole of emty plastic bottles was placed at the gates of the building with banners reading 'our water is not for sale'.

Three hours after police delayed a train full of people from Annemasse and others from Geneva and Lousanne from joining the demonstration, the group headed back toward the city for a street party.

All day the objective of the police was to keep the many groups who have come towards Evian to resist the G8 separate. However this did not serve to diffuse the spirits of those who wished to have a presence in the city. On entering the boulevard, the group was surrounded by French and German riot police.

Protesters rejected being searched by the police and sat down on the road peacefully. Thousands of local people and visiters to this town in the mean time gathered on the north side of the bridges between the police and the main railway station.

Water canons, tear gas, rubber bullets, stun shots, tonights display was an education for all walks of life. Tourists were photographing poetry written over the boarded up banks and students squeezed lemons on to the collars of weeping grandfathers to sooth the stinging gas.

On the second evening of the G8 Summit scenes such as these seem far away from Bolivia and the consequences of selling off natural resources. However the forms of violence are becoming visible, and people on the streets tonight were asking just what is it that the police are defending?