US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin shared a brief encounter yesterday ahead of their meeting on the sidelines of an international summit in Germany, which was targeted by antiglobalization activists, who set cars ablaze and tried to block delegations from entering the grounds of the G20 summit in Hamburg.
The two leaders had a brief encounter upon arrival at the summit of industrialized and developing nations, shaking hands and exchanging a few words ahead of a sit-down meeting expected after press time last night.
They were expected to discuss issues ranging from Syria and Iran, Ukraine and North Korea following Pyongyang’s test this week of a missile said to be capable of striking the US.
Photo: EPA
Russia wants the US to return two compounds in New York and Maryland that were seized by the administration of former US president Barack Obama as punishment for election meddling.
It also wants the US to ease sanctions it imposed on Russia after Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula and over Moscow’s support of separatist elements in Ukraine.
The US wants a resumption of adoptions of Russian children by US parents, which Russia banned in 2012, along with an end to what it claims is intensifying harassment of US diplomats and other officials stationed in Russia.
Dozens of officers built moving lines in different parts of Hamburg and used water cannons to force protesters from streets across the city.
Some were physically moved for hundreds of meters from a sit-in in front of the first security checkpoint near the summit grounds.
Police later tweeted that all leaders made it safely to the city’s convention center where the summit is taking place.
None of the protesters made it into the no-go zone around the summit that the police had established, they said.
The leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, were to discuss issues like fighting international terrorism, but also tackle more contentious topics like climate change and international trade.
Protesters took to the streets to protest globalization, economic inequality and what they see as a lack of action on climate change.
They shot firecrackers at a police helicopter and only narrowly missed it, police said.
Windows at the Mongolian consulate were broken and the wheels of a car belonging to the Canadian delegation were punctured, police said.
Hamburg police, who already have 20,000 officers on hand to patrol the city’s streets, skies and waterways, sought reinforcement from police across Germany.
Police said that at least 111 officers were hurt during clashes on Thursday, one of whom had to be taken to a hospital with an eye injury after a firework exploded in front of him.
Twenty-nine people were arrested and 15 temporarily detained, police said.
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