LONDON, June 11 (UPI) -- Police in London made 32 arrests Tuesday as protests began against the upcoming Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland.
There were clashes as police officers armed with batons confronted protesters armed with sticks, the Daily Mirror reported. Police had been given the power to stop and frisk, and to demand that protesters remove masks and other facial covering.
Those arrested faced a range of charges, including assaulting police and failure to remove disguises.
A closed police station that has been serving as headquarters for the protest movement was raided and three people arrested there.
A march by about 200 people in central London was mostly peaceful, the Mirror said. Police blocked protesters from major shopping arteries, although the group made stops at the headquarters of oil giant BP in St. James' Square and at Lockheed Martin's London office.
Shoppers and tourists appeared to find the march strange, looking on in bewilderment as protesters walked by carrying banners with slogans like "No borders, no prisons, no capitalism" and "One Common Struggle."
The heads of the countries with the world's largest economies will be meeting next week at the Lough Erne Resort in Northern Ireland.
